REICHSHOF, Germany (BRAIN) — Schwalbe, which historically has split tire and tube production between its factories in Indonesia and Vietnam, says it is focusing on Vietnam exclusively at least for the time being.
"Schwalbe is strategically realigning its production and will manufacture all tires and tubes exclusively in Vietnam in the future. Thanks to bundled production, the state-of-the-art site there offers volume and logistics advantages for all Schwalbe customers," the company said this week.
Schwalbe will retain mold making, mixing operations, research & development and administration in Indonesia and said it retains the option to resume manufacturing there.
Schwalbe, founded in 1973, has manufactured in a joint venture with Hung-A in Asia. Both companies are family-owned.
Schwalbe said the decision to focus production in Vietnam stems from "the tense situation" in the bicycle industry.
"Instead of long-term orders, orders are almost exclusively placed spontaneously. As a result, it is currently no longer possible to plan ahead to meet demand at two parallel production sites.
"Schwalbe is therefore positioning itself for the future in the best possible way and is pooling its strengths in Vietnam. Enormous investments have been made there in recent years. With new factory buildings and machinery, the site offers state-of-the-art tire and tube production. In addition, Schwalbe customers can be supplied directly from there with a product mix perfectly tailored to their individual requirements," the company said.
Frank Bohle, the CEO of Schwalbe said, "We at Schwalbe see ourselves as an ecologically and socially responsible company that is proud to have created many new jobs in recent years. While we are expanding the team in Vietnam once again, the decision unfortunately also means that we will have to cut staff in Indonesia. That hurts us a lot.
"After analyzing the development and the current situation in detail, this restructuring was unavoidable. We are retaining the option of resuming production in Indonesia in the future, but are now deliberately concentrating our efforts at our site in Vietnam, where we are in an excellent position."
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