Playmobil, a German line of beloved little plastic toys that includes human figures, animals, buildings and countless other accessories, will no longer be produced in Germany, as the manufacturer is shifting operations abroad to cut costs.
One week before operations at the Playmobil plant near the southern town of Zirndorf are to officially come to halt, all remaining employees have been put on paid leave, a spokesman for the Horst Brandstätter Group said on Tuesday.
Production of the Playmobil figures is to be consolidated at the company's factories in Malta and the Czech Republic.
Product development, administration, marketing, sales and logistics are to remain in Germany, the spokesman said. "Playmobil, as a long-established toy manufacturer, remains rooted in Germany," he added.
The Horst Brandstätter Group, which is headquartered in Zirndorf just outside Nuremberg, surprisingly announced it would shut down the plant in Dietenhofen on June 30, with some 350 employees affected.
The IGBCE union slammed the move at the time, describing it as wrong while also criticizing the fact that the plans had been communicated to workers just a week after Playmobil chief executive Bahri Kurter had said at a toy fair that signs were pointing to a turnaround for the struggling manufacturer.
In May, the Horst Brandstätter Group reported that revenue had fallen to €409 million ($465 million) in the 2024-25 financial year.
According to the spokesman, the closure of the plant in Dietenhofen was unavoidable due to high wage and energy costs, with the company aiming to return to sustainable growth.
