The year 2020 is coming to an end and Thaler GmbH & Co KG is also slowly beginning the end-of-year spurt before the company holiday over the Christmas period.
Despite all the adversities, 2020 was a successful year for the Upper Bavarian mechanical engineering company. The planned production of machines was implemented almost entirely.
“Of course, this year was different from the others,” says Managing Director Manfred Thaler, “more difficult, there were problems. But I think that applies to everyone in 2020.”
However, Thaler GmbH & CO KG has so far been able to navigate the pandemic successfully.
“For one thing, our inventory strategy has proven successful,” said Mr. Thaler. “With just-in-time delivery, we would certainly have run into trouble. There were some problems with suppliers who simply could no longer deliver due to the crisis.”
On the one hand, there was a well-stocked warehouse. On the other hand, Thaler is comparatively less dependent on suppliers.
“We have a high level of vertical integration and manufacture the majority of our components ourselves here at our headquarters in Bavaria.”
This made it possible to structure production flexibly at any time, producing parts that were needed at the time or even in stock. This meant there were no problems with production stoppages.
Thaler was thus able to maintain operations throughout the year. The measures were limited to encouraging employees to reduce overtime and take vacation time. No government aid was required. Ms. Sonja Thaler: “We were able to preserve all jobs at Thaler, and we are proud of that. Production is currently at full capacity until the end of the year. We are pleased that we survived the year well and are now looking optimistically to the future!”