Christoph Hammerschmidt
EE Times Europe
08/22/2008 10:48 AM

MUNICH; Germany — A fire at Batterie-Montage-Zentrum (BMZ) GmbH in Karlstein, Germany, during the night of August 20 has caused a damage in the double-digit million euro range. A production hall and a warehouse were destroyed.

Despite the high damage, another production area for high-end recharcheable batteries as well as the company's administration building remained undamaged, the company said. The cause of the fire is not known yet.

In order to curtail the consequences of the fire, the company says it has arranged a series of measures. According to BMZ managing director Sven Bauer the company currently evaluates to which extend the production loss can be absorbed through temporarily outsourcing of productions to either the company's Polish production line near Warszaw or to its Chinese subsidiary in Shenzhen. In addition, the company is in negotiations with a number of companies to temporarily outsources parts of the production to contract manufacturers.

BMZ also has rented an additional production space of 1000 square meters in its direct proximity. There, the company will continue to manufacture of customized battery solutions for industrial, IT, consumer electronics and retail customers. The production activities at this place will be launched within one week, the company said.