Engel Ceases Production at Austrian Plants Following Employee Coronavirus Infections

Engel (Schwertberg, Austria) announced the production interruption for the St. Valentin facility, which manufactures injection molding machines with a clamp force range of 350 to 5500 tons,  on March 21. On March 22, the company announced an extension of the closure for its main plant in Schwertberg from two days to 22 days through April 15. Of the six cases, four occurred in Schwertberg and two at St. Valentin. In addition, the company said both in the large machine plant in St. Valentin and in the robot plant in Dietach, production, manufacturing and assembly will be interrupted until April 15th.

That move was made after a sixth employee—this one working in St. Valentin—tested positive for Covid-19. The company said all infected employees were home and doing well or “already on the mend.”

The company announced that sales, application technology and service, including its hotline and spare parts department, are still operating without restriction by phone and e-mail. The worldwide spare parts stores outside the Engel production plants in Schwertberg, St. Valentin and Dietach are also still operating normally.

At the beginning of March, Engel canceled all planned Spring events, as well as restricting travel worldwide, switching to virtual meetings and strengthening hygiene measures in the factories, with many employees working from home. At the time, the company announced that visits to its Austrian plants were not possible. At the time, Engel also suspended all machine approvals in its Austrian plants until April 19.

At the company’s North American headquarters in York, Penn., the company has shifted “almost all” employees to home offices, with measures in place to limit potential risk for those who need to work at the facility in support of operations and spare parts shipments.