Recession in Germany in the 1980s resulted in the closure of two plants and employee lay-offs reducing the staff by almost half. Management was brought in from outside the Vossloh family, and Schwabe GmbH acquired; its lighting ballast products complementing Vossloh's lighting fittings product range, and on 1 December 1989 Vossloh-Werke GmbH became a public stock company or "Aktiengesellschaft" (AG). At this time there were three company divisions : Vossloh-Werke GmbH (Werdohl) (railway components e.g. tension clamps), Vossloh-Schwabe GmbH (Urbach) (electrical lighting products and components), and Hansa Metallwarengesellschaft mbH Thiessen & Hager (decorative products, sunscreen products).