Albany International's subsidiary, Albany International France S.A.S. (“Albany France”), has initiated discussions with the employee Works Councilregarding a proposal to restructure operations at the Company’s machine clothing production facilities in Sélestat, France. The proposed restructuring would reduce employment by approximately 54 positions, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
President and CEO Joseph Morone said, “As we have long reported, the market for machine clothing in the publication grades, particularly in Europe, has been deteriorating for over a decade, and continues to do so. As we described at the time, the 2013 restructuring was part of a deliberate but painful process of aligning our global capacity to the long-term structure of the machine clothing industry.
"This restructuring process has to date resulted in the closing of 13 plants across the globe, including 8 in North America and 4 in Europe, and significant downsizing at other European plants, along with investment in new capacity in Asia and South America. While we had hoped that the 2013 actions would represent the last step in this global restructuring process, continued deterioration in the market for publication paper grades has driven the need for further restructuring in order to maintain Albany’s ability to compete in the markets we continue to serve.”
Consultations with the Works Council will be completed in accordance with applicable French legislation.
