Polar plans to lay off 900 employees, strengthen brand name and quality

Domestic appliance producer Polar is planning to reduce its workforce by 900 in connection with the first step of the company's new restructuring program . This will leave Polar with 1,900 employees. Recently 95% of the company wa s purchased by Whirpool. The firm's official statement regarding the decisio n says: "we are aiming to speed up integration between Polar and Whirlpool C orp., as well as to significantly improve our production capabilities to the level of one million cooling appliances per year". The restructuring plan w as based on the new investor's long-term strategy regarding its Polish subsi diary. The principal element is to rebuild the brand position of Polar, as w ell as to ensure that appliances made comply with European standards. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 4; Puls Biznesu, p. 11) M.T.K.