Xerium Technologies Inc., Youngsville, N.C., USA, this week announced the permanent consolidation of the roll manufacturing operations being conducted at its Middletown, Va., plant location into other Xerium roll plants. This closure will not affect the operations and employees in Xerium’s Global Rolls R&D Center in Middletown. In fact, it will give the R&D team more room to accomplish product development and prototypes on next generation products. The timeline to complete this process is by the end of March 2016. 

"There are very healthy and growing segments of the North American market and Xerium has an outstanding geographical network of North American rolls locations to serve these customers out of its plants in Neenah, Wis., Griffin, Ga.,  Ruston, La., Concord, N.H., Kelso, Wash., and Queretaro, Mexico. Unfortunately, the Middletown location is not uniquely near many customer mill locations and also has very limited service capabilities. All of the production accomplished in Middletown will be moved to Xerium’s plants in Neenah, Griffin, Ruston, and Concord. The equipment in the Middletown plant will primarily be moved outside of North America to other continents that are growing and in need of additional equipment," said Harold Bevis, Xerium’s president and CEO.

 

"These changes are a Xerium portfolio resource allocation decision and are not reflective of any performance issues in Middletown. The decision to consolidate the Virginia operation is regretful but logically straightforward. The North America market continues to downsize and reformulate due to the permanent elimination of graphical grade paper production. While unfortunate, it is an ongoing market process that is far from over. We fully expect to continue realigning our operations in this environment. As with any action that affects our employees, the need to close this facility comes with great disappointment. We will work diligently to assist affected employees by helping them transition to other internal opportunities where available or secure employment elsewhere." said Bevis.