Internorm company spokesman and member of the family that owns Internorm and IFN, Christian Klinger, expects that it will take until the second half of 2025 for all systems to be running at full capacity once more. As reported, Internorm has adjusted personnel and capacities. The number of employees at the end of 2023 was 2,100, 93 lower than the previous year.
Different working time models are practiced at the three production sites in Traun, Sarleinsbach and Lannach. 85 to 90 percent of the capacities are being used, says Klinger. There is an internal company short-time working with Friday as a closing day or up to a month of additional vacation (instead of profit sharing), reports Johann Brandstetter, Managing Director of Internorm. These measures have been agreed with the works council until the end of 2025 and can be ended at short notice as soon as demand requires it. They want to maintain the current workforce level in order to be prepared for business to take off.
And Klinger hopes that the federal government’s funding offensive will further accelerate the renovation business. Business has already turned around in 2023: 55 percent of sales in the most important markets were generated from window replacements; in the previous year, new construction dominated. 50,000 renovation customers at Internorm meant an increase – despite an overall decline in demand.
Italy overtakes Germany
Klinger expects this year to be “the strongest restructuring year in the company’s history”. The subsidies are so attractive that thermal renovation would pay off within a few years with savings in heating costs. Internorm refers to Italy. Higher subsidies there would have increased the number of windows replaced from 3.6 to 5.9 million units in just a few years. That is why Italy has overtaken Germany as the second most important market (following the home market of Austria), reports Klinger.
Last year, window suppliers in Austria sold eleven percent fewer units. At Internorm, incoming orders fell by twelve percent; in the end, sales remained almost at the previous year’s level at 494 million euros, although product prices did not increase because raw material costs had fallen. According to Klinger, we are completely satisfied with this – even though it was an “exciting year”.
Internorm now does almost two thirds of its business abroad – from Great Britain to Eastern Europe. “The broad positioning helps us. Not all markets crash at the same time,” says Klinger.
Author
Sigrid Brandstätter
deputy head of the economics department
Sigrid Brandstätter
