The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory

On the great ship

Data collected and processed over eighteen months of work were sufficient in themselves to purchase the factory, but were not sufficient enought to direct the business and operation. Philip Morris had to get to know the people. Their way of thinking. Their abilities.

At the same time they had to execute the necessary departmental restructuring, the agreed redundancy programme, they had to resolve the future of the cigar branch, and the cigarette business couldn't come last in the line. During the implementation of the promised pay rises and the share buyback scheme the gloomy March sky seemed to brighten above the old factory, but then the clouds descended again. People stopped in front of the newly erected news wall to read the latest announcements on the voluntary redundancy programme. The programme was both attractive and frightening at the same time. Attractive because it offered an extremely high compensation for those who had long years of service: those who had worked for 20 years could take home 16 times their increased monthly wage, and those who had worked for 30 years could pick up 21 times their salary. Those who didn't have the strength to renew themselves and to meet the still unknown but perceptibly increased demands and tasks grabbed the opportunity to make an honourable exit, also in a financial sense. Unfortunately the layoff programme had to go beyond voluntary redundancies when the cigar manufacturing branch was closed down. By then the cigar branch was solely involved in cutting the cigar wrapper which the factory conducted as contract work. With a German company who together with the new management of the Eger factory tried for more than a year to put the cigar branch on an independent footing, but finally the German partner took its machinery and equipment and transported it to an island in Oceania.

1993 1994 1995 1996

Filter production Cigarette production Packaging