From pv magazine Germany
The solar industry posted record growth in 2023, with 2.6 GW added in Austria, 56 GW in Europe, and almost 450 GW worldwide. Many companies, including Austrian inverter and storage system manufacturer Fronius, responded by ramping up capacity and hiring new employees.
However, there has been no exponential demand growth in recent months, and by the end of last year, Fronius began to doubt its positive market assessment due to order cancellations. The company responded by introducing internal short-time work for PV production employees, sending around 1,300 employees to a self-paid, part-time model.
Fronius assumed inventories would clear by the end of the second quarter, but this did not happen, and order intake forecasts had to be revised downward. As a result, its photovoltaics division laid off 350 employees in early June.
Market analysis by its new solar rnergy business unit management resulted in the dismissal of 650 more employees a few weeks later. Fronius explained that evaluations and discussions with international wholesalers revealed a much lower order volume for 2024 and sufficient inverter availability in warehouses until 2025.
The new layoffs affect 450 employees in Austria and 200 in foreign subsidiaries, mainly in the Czech Republic and Germany. Fronius plans to end internal short-time work almost completely by September. With the change from three to two-shift operations, employees will be fully utilized again, particularly in production. The company also plans to save on investments and material expenses.
Fronius has let go of around half of the employees it hired during the natural gas and energy crisis. CEO Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß explained that the “redimensioning of our business activities” is “unfortunately necessary and unavoidable.”
Despite the challenges, she remains optimistic about the future. Fronius has increased its market share in key markets like Austria and Germany and maintained its market share in Switzerland and Australia.
“Fronius is one of the best-known inverter brands in the world and the alternative to Chinese manufacturers,” Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß said. “Fronius remains financially independent and has several pillars: with welding technology and battery charging technology, in addition to solar technology, we have two business units from completely different areas that give us stability and security.”
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