HEERENVEEN, Netherlands (BRAIN) — Accell Group announced it will close its factory here by the end of the first quarter next year, resulting in the loss of about 160 jobs. Afterward, production will take place in Hungary with assembly in Dijon, France.
The Heerenveen location will evolve into a "strategic hub," focusing on design, engineering, and support with a team of about 100. Eventually, the team will move to a new office in Heerenveen once manufacturing is completely transferred, which will begin in September. The factory represents about 20% of Accell's total production.
The closure comes after Accell said it would combined its two Heerenveen facilities in January 2024 and moved a portion of production to Hungary and Turkey, resulting in a loss of 100 to 150 jobs.
"Having been founded more than 120 years ago in Heerenveen, we have unique and deep expertise in design, product development and engineering of high-quality bikes here," said CEO.Jonas Nilsson, who succeeded Tjeerd Jegen in August. "Consolidating our production will allow us to significantly improve efficiency and focus fully on driving quality, productivity and innovation, rather than managing multiple, under-utilized sites under intense international cost pressure for manual processes. It will also allow us to further improve delivery performance and strengthen product consistency across all brands."
In January, following a recapitalization agreement in October 2024 and a 390 million euro loss ($455 million) in 2023, Jegen said the company's recovery was underway. The company said inventory levels decreased along with the number of warehouses, from 85 to 28, with the goal of five eventually. Office locations are also being reduced.
"While we are seeing clear evidence that our strategy is delivering results and some first signs of market recovery, full recovery will take time," Nilsson said. "Therefore, we have decided to accelerate our Transformation Program and further centralize production. Decisions that lead to redundancies are never easy, and we recognize the impact this has on our people. We will do our utmost to inform and assist affected employees in the best possible way. In our new setup, we will be able to better leverage our scale and capabilities across production, logistics, and operations, supporting our full portfolio of iconic brands."
Accell's brands include Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Koga, Lapierre, Raleigh, Sparta, Babboe and Carqon.
