UPM to Close Albbruck Paper Mil, Transfer Sheeting Lines to Plattling

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Closure of the mill is affecting 508 employees of the mill. The personnel reductions will take place on January 31.

"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's 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," said Jyrki Ovaska, president, UPM's Paper Business Group.

During the negotiations concerning reconciliation of interest and social plan, issues such as pension schemes, support for re-employment, relocations within the company, re-training, and compensation payments were discussed and agreed upon.

"We understand the disappointment of the Albbruck mill employees. All of the participants at the round table discussions have done their utmost to find a future-oriented concept for the mill. Despite this strong commitment of people involved, no solution could be found as the concepts presented by potential investors were not economically sound. UPM will implement a social plan to alleviate the effects caused by personnel reductions in a responsible way," said Hartmut Wurster, EVP, who represented UPM during the round table discussions.

Sheeting lines of the mill will be transferred to the company's paper mill in Plattling, Germany, to complement UPM's product portfolio. "UPM sees the coated mechanical sheets as solid business, and is committed to serve customers after the Albbruck closure smoothly and promptly," Ovaska explained. Approximately 30 new positions will be created through this measure and applications from Albbruck specialists will be prioritized.

UPM said that it will participate in following-up from the round table discussions about the possible future use of the mill premises. The discussions will be led by the local Chamber of Commerce. "The aim of this forum is to find development ideas and business opportunities for the site. We have already been contacted by companies that are potentially interested in the industrial use of the mill premises," Wurster said.

The Albbruck decision finalizes the paper capacity closure plans that were announced by UPM last August. UPM Albbruck paper mill had a capacity to produce 320,000 metric tpy of magazine papers. The UPM Myllykoski paper mill in Finland, with 600,000 metric tpy of magazine paper capacity, was closed on December 9, and No. 3 paper machine at UPM Ettringen paper mill in Germany, with 110,000 metric tpy of newsprint capacity, was closed on December 14.

Sale of the Stracel paper mill in France is ongoing as planned, UPM added.