UPM will permanently close down the unprofitable Albbruck paper mill in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The discussions between UPM, the employee representatives and local authorities did not lead to a solution for continuing the operations at the mill. Neither was the search for an investor successful. The closure of the mill is affecting the 508 employees of the mill. The personnel reductions will take place on 31 January 2012.
“UPM Albbruck mill has been making a loss for several years due to the age and relatively small size of the machines and the mill is not cost competitive within UPM asset and global customer portfolio. Under the difficult circumstances the highly qualified employees have done an excellent job. Unfortunately, it would not have been possible to improve the mill’s profitability to an extent that would have allowed sustainable operations,” says Jyrki Ovaska, President, UPM’s Paper Business Group.
The sheeting lines of the mill will be transferred to the company’s paper mill in Plattling in order to complement UPM’s product portfolio. “UPM sees the coated mechanical sheets as solid business, and is committed to serve the customers after the Albbruck closure smoothly and promptly,” explains Jyrki Ovaska. Approximately 30 new positions will be created through this measure and applications from Albbruck specialists will be prioritized.
The Albbruck decision finalizes the paper capacity closure plans that were announced by UPM last August. UPM Albbruck paper mill had a capacity of 320,000 tonnes of magazine papers. UPM Myllykoski paper mill in Finland with 600,000 tonnes of magazine papers was closed down on 9 December 2011 and the paper machine 3 at UPM Ettringen paper mill in Germany with 110,000 tonnes of newsprint was closed down on 14 December 2011.
