Trek Bicycle Corporation will cease production in Carlow, Ireland and move production to its plant in Hartsmannsdorf, Germany effective April 1, 2004. The acquisition of Villiger Cycle in January of 2003 left Trek with two manufacturing facilities in Europe. It was decided to move all production to Hartsmannsdorf because the Hartsmannsdorf facility has the ability to paint raw frames, has excess capacity, and offers shorter lead times because of its proximity to both customers and suppliers.
Tim Callahan, Vice President of Operations, commented that “Our Ireland facility has done an excellent job building quality products in a timely manner. It was a difficult decision to make. However, this is a very competitive business and with the Villiger acquisition, we had two manufacturing plants, and we only had a need for one.”
