The soap factory in Kappus, located in Riesa in eastern Germany, is slated to shut down at the end of 2023 after more than a century of operation. The announcement has stirred local concern and attracted attention from regional business observers across Germany. The news was initially reported by Bild, a major national newspaper known for covering industrial and regional developments with a focus on workforce impacts and local economies.
Since October 2022, the company has faced ongoing financial pressures that have hindered its ability to meet regular payments. This financial strain has persisted for more than a year, creating uncertainty about the business’s future and heightening the urgency for a viable exit strategy for employees and creditors alike. The long-standing owner, Axel Buchholz, who has run the factory since 1992, has publicly acknowledged the difficulty in attracting new investment capable of upgrading the plant’s aging equipment. With prospective buyers largely overlooking the business as it stood, the future of production in Riesa now rests on the decisions of the remaining stakeholders and the options available for workers.
According to statements from the plant’s management, the workforce will be offered positions at a nearby enterprise within the same metro area, specifically in the neighboring city of Heitersheim. The plan aims to provide some degree of continuity for employees, even as the physical operation of the Kappus factory winds down. This approach reflects a broader pattern seen in regional manufacturing, where established sites face consolidation rather than outright closure when capital improvements and market demand do not align with current financial realities.
The factory itself traces its origins to 1909, a period when European industry was expanding rapidly and craftspeople, along with new machinery, began to reshape everyday life. In the decades following World War II, the Riesa facility gained a prominent role in the production of solid soap for the German Democratic Republic. At its height, the plant supplied as much as 80 percent of the GDR’s soap needs, becoming a cornerstone of domestic manufacturing for a time. Beyond fulfilling internal demand, the factory’s output supported international trade, with exports serving as a vital outlet for German soap products during a period of reconstruction and economic strategy aimed at self-sufficiency in everyday goods.
In a separate development discussed in the latter half of November 2022, the automotive industry’s supply chain faced another notable shift. Auto Motor und Sport reported that Bia Forst, a unit known for supplying chrome-plated three-beam stars to the assembly lines of Mercedes-Benz, would also be closing its factory due to a softening demand for its products. The closing of Bia Forst underscores a broader trend affecting precision components and decorative fittings across the manufacturing sector, where demand fluctuations, global competition, and shifting investment priorities converge to reshape plant footprints and employment opportunities. The interplay between these two closures—one in consumer soap production, the other in automotive accessories—highlights the fragility of even long-standing industrial operations when confronted with market headwinds and capital constraints. (Source: Bild; Auto Motor und Sport)