MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel announced plans to optimize the manufacturing footprint of its Coil Coatings sites in Europe and Russia by concentrating production at three strategic sites, said AkzoNobel.
The company intends to improve operational performance by focusing all European manufacturing for the Coil Coatings business on plants in Malmo (Sweden), Lipetsk (Russia) and Hilden (Germany). As a result of these plans, production at sites in Gamleby (Sweden) and Nurnberg (Germany) would end by June 2015.
"By focusing production on strategic sites that are close to our customers and manufacture products for more than one business, we will create a more efficient footprint and establish a more sustainable platform for future growth," said Conrad Keijzer, AkzoNobel’s Executive Committee member responsible for Performance Coatings.
The transfer is scheduled to start in early 2014. Current manufacturing at Gamleby will move to Malmo and Lipetsk, while production at Nurnberg will switch to Hilden. Around 280 employees will be affected, with the company planning to transfer and hire additional people in Hilden, Malmo and Lipetsk. A centralized European development centre will also be set up in Malmo.
"Operational excellence is a key priority and moving production to three strategic sites is a logical step which will ensure that we are better positioned to deliver leading performance and accelerate profitable growth," added AB Ghosh, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Industrial Coatings. "These improvements in our supply chain will also enable us to respond even faster to our customers."
AkzoNobel is a global leader in coil coating, which is a continuous and highly automated process for coating metal before fabrication. The products are mainly used for building components and infrastructure, as well as for consumer goods such as kitchen appliances.
Employees have been informed about the company’s plans and discussions with the relevant works councils are already underway.
As MRC wrote before, Akzo Nobel strengthened its footprint in India with the commissioning of a new plant in Gwalior to make decorative paints. The greenfield facility, Akzo’s sixth plant in India, has been built at an investment of Rs 140 crore. It has an annual capacity of 55 million litres.
Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC