Protected workshops secure long-term e-bike assembly contract

Salzburg’s Geschützte Werkstätten, an inclusive employer, have won a major contract to assemble rental e-bikes for the city’s bike-sharing service, ORF reported. About 6,000 e-bikes have been rented and returned since the service launched a week ago.

The bikes are produced in China and Cambodia, but up to 10 employees at the workshops in Salzburg-Gnigl carry out the final assembly. Their tasks include fitting pedals, inflating tyres, attaching instructions to the frames and testing the brakes.

The city currently has 350 rental e-bikes available at 40 stations. A further 300 bikes will be delivered to the workshops this year, with the second expansion stage planned for next year.

The contract is expected to provide stable and predictable workloads for the coming years. “Our job as an integrative operation is not to generate profits, but to employ people in high-quality jobs,” said Astrid Lamprechter, managing director of the Geschützte Werkstätten.

Thomas Neuheimer from the workshops’ Service and Assembly department expects the contract to generate about 100,000 euros in revenue in its first full year.

The US company Lime produces the bicycles in Asia. The Salzburg Transport Association awarded the contract after considering five providers. Its managing director, Johannes Gfrerer, said the decision was based primarily on quality, while the local final assembly would ensure value was created in Salzburg.

Employees at the Salzburg-Gnigl workshops will also recharge empty batteries and carry out all necessary repairs in the future.