Skills shortages impact Trelleborg sales in eastern Europe

Trelleborg, Sweden – Trelleborg AB has attributed a decline in fourth-quarter sales in parts of eastern Europe to a lack of skilled employees.

Workforce shortages led to “bottlenecks” at Trelleborg’s Czech production units in the fourth-quarter, president & CEO Peter Nilsson reported in a presentation of the company’s 2018 results.

The situation, he said, has created “significant inefficiency” and affected both sales and earnings at Trelleborg Industrial Solutions.

“Difficulties in recruiting qualified operators [are due to] the very low rate of unemployment in the country,” the company boss explained.

Trelleborg is currently taking measures to address the skills issue, Nilsson added in the 13 Feb results presentation.