Cascades to Close Tissue Converting Operations at NY and AZ Plants
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Cascades Inc. (TSX: CAS), a leader in eco-friendly recovery, packaging, and hygiene solutions, announced the final closure of its tissue paper converting operations at the Waterford mills in New York State and Kingman, Arizona. The closure is scheduled for March 27, 2020.
The closure does not concern the Customer Service Center or the Waterford Distribution Center. For Kingman, the distribution center will continue operations until the end of the lease in October 2020. In total, both sites produce nine million cases of tissue products annually and employ 213 workers. These volumes will be moved to other Cascades plants and filled with additional capacity.
"The difficult but necessary decisions we are announcing today are part of our strategic efforts to improve the profitability of the Fabric Group and position it for long-term success. The losses of these mills, the current market conditions and the investments we recently announced in the acquisition and upgrading of other conversion units in the United States prompted us to move production to other sites in order to optimize our operations and reduce our logistics costs. We want to reassure our customers that these decisions will have no impact on the quality of Cascades products and services, "said Jean-David Tardif, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Over the coming weeks and months, Cascades will work to reduce the impact of this announcement on its employees. In particular, it will offer as many employees as possible relocation to its other business units. Those who cannot or will not be assigned to other plants will be supported in their job search efforts.
"I want to thank all Waterford and Kingman Stuntmen for their dedication over the years. With the closure of these plants, Cascades is turning a page in history. I thank our employees in advance for their professionalism in serving our customers faithfully, until the two sites are closed, "concluded Tardif.
