Fleischmann Declares Insolvency

[ljudice]

Of interest to some here:

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/modelleisenbahnen-fleischmann-beantragt-insolvenz-a-1046821.html

They have been churning out a lot of new stuff in N-scale since being bought by Roco.

[Rich_S]

Of interest to some here:

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/modelleisenbahnen-fleischmann-beantragt-insolvenz-a-1046821.html

They have been churning out a lot of new stuff in N-scale since being bought by Roco.

 "The remaining 33 employees at the headquarters of Fleischmann are unable to generate the occupational pensions of more than 600 former employees." A common problem that now seems to be hitting the model railroad manufacturing industry.  This is a shame, but I guess it's another sign of the changing times.  I've never purchased any Fleischmann locomotives or rolling stock, but I did admire the accuracy and detail of their  German steam locomotives.

[Mark5]

This is likely due to the fact that their owner, Roco, declared bankruptcy on July 15.

Mark

[MVW]

Sounds like the company is declaring bankruptcy to rid itself of pension obligations, and that operations will continue.

Hopefully the retirees will be made whole by the Pension Assurance Association referred to in the story. I don't know the details here, but it's likely these are just working stiffs who bargained away higher pay in favor of a more secure retirement. Surprise.

Jim

[ljudice]

This is likely due to the fact that their owner, Roco, declared bankruptcy on July 15.

Mark

You sure about that?  I think that was July 15, 2005....      But I could be wrong....

[Mark5]

I could be wrong, in fact I am wrong.

The parent company as I understand it is Modelleisenbahn Munchen GmbH

[peteski]

I sure hope that whatever happens, the product line doesn't get mothballed.  Fleischmann is one of the top quality manufacturers of European N scale and I have lots of their models.  I just ordered and received bunch of spare parts last month. If they go kaput, I'll be in trouble.

It also appears that they still made most of their models in Germany (with few in Yugoslavia or Romania).  I have never seen Made in China label on any of their models.

[Mark5]

According to the company spokesman, Michael Prock, operations are not affected and the company will continue.

http://mobil.derstandard.at/2000020307280/Deutscher-Modelleisenbahn-Hersteller-Fleischmann-insolvent

Mark

[delamaize]

I hope they keep churning out N scale stuff. It's hard to beat their Steam locomotives.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

If Mini-Trix can survive being eaten by the anti-N Marklin, I have no doubt in my mind Fleischmann will end up on their feet.

[peteski]

anti-N Marklin

Really?  I didn't know they were actually against N scale.  How did they indicate that?   I know they didn't make any N scale models, (just Z and H0), but there are also other manufacturers that do not produce N scale models.  Is  for example LGB anti N-scale too? 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

There was a book on Marklin I read years ago. I forget the name of it. Anyway in the early 70's, they sat down to plan a lineup smaller than HO. The result of the meeting was that N scale was too mundane/crowded/established and they wanted to set themselves apart "as a superior model manufacturer" (paraphrasing here), so they scrapped some initial N scale plans and started creating Z scale.

Z scale was invented as a slap to N scale's popularity at the time.

[nickelplate759]

I read that story less as "anti-N scale" and more that they felt that the N scale market didn't present a sufficient opportunity to  set themselves apart from competitors as distinctly as they wanted to.