Overview
- The company placed the remaining Dietenhofen staff on paid leave Tuesday, suspended production and confirmed the plant will close on June 30.
- Playmobil will concentrate toy manufacturing in its plants in Malta and the Czech Republic while keeping product development, marketing, logistics and administration in Germany.
- Employee representatives agreed a social plan for about 350 affected workers that includes a transfergesellschaft, which temporarily moves staff to a transition company, and negotiated severance payments.
- The works council and the IGBCE union condemned the timing and handling of the move, with the works council chair calling the announcement "a catastrophe" and saying staff felt disrespected.
- The decision responds to years of falling sales and rising costs in Germany and could signal broader pressure on domestic manufacturing as companies relocate production to lower-cost EU sites.