Shock for Sauldorfer: Tegometall closes – 90 jobs lost!

Shock for Sauldorfer: Tegometall closes – 90 jobs lost!

Tegometall Lagertechnik GmbH in Sauldorf, Baden-Württemberg will close its doors at the end of September 2025. The company announced this at a meeting on August 28, 2025, at which around 90 employees received their notices of termination. The decision to stop producing pallet and heavy-duty racking systems after 35 years was due to a drastic decline in sales of almost 60 percent Mercury reported.

Managing director Arndt Lüdtke said in a statement that pressure from higher costs and strong competition from non-EU countries was largely responsible for the closure. Rising energy and raw material prices are also affecting the company. High steel prices and tariffs are also causing particular difficulties, making production in Europe less and less profitable. “The forecasts show that many large customers do not want to place orders with us in the coming years,” explained Lüdtke.

The future of employees

Affected employees have the opportunity to apply for open positions at the sister plant in Krauchenwies, but it looks like an uncertain time for many. The majority will probably have to rely on the employment office, which Lüdtke regrets and adds that many long-term employees cannot be offered any prospects. “It was a difficult decision,” said the managing director, who describes the overall economic environment as challenging.

In addition, the situation for industry in Germany is generally tense. Loud daily news Almost half of companies in the industry are planning to cut jobs. Unemployment is rising and employment figures are falling. Hardly a quarter of companies currently have a need for new workers.

The closure of Tegometall in context

The closure of the Tegometall site in Sauldorf is not only the end of an era for the company, which once supplied major customers such as Ikea and Lidl, but also reflects the difficult economic climate in the industry. Since 2019, the number of jobs in industry in Germany has fallen from 7.8 million to 7.4 million. This development is reinforced by the current market conditions, and many companies, including well-known ones such as ZF, Continental and VW, are forced to cut jobs.

While the Tegometall factory in Poland will continue to produce storage racks on a minimal scale, the future of the Sauldorf factory remains uncertain. It remains to be seen how the labor market situation will develop in the coming months, especially in an environment in which companies can hardly create new jobs and the shortage of skilled workers is decreasing. The situation in the industry is tense and the challenges are enormous.

The news of the closure is a hard blow for the employees of Tegometall in Sauldorf. A switch to other industries has been examined in the past, but without success. The closure clearly shows that well-known companies in the industry are also suffering from the changed market conditions, which represent a major challenge not only for Tegometall, but also for many.