Ahlstrom Job Cuts Starting In Europe

Finland-based Ahlstrom Corp., which operates a major plant in Windsor Locks, is closing one Italian plant and shutting down a production line in a second plant. The move will result in the elimination of 48 jobs, company officials said in an announcement on the company Web site last week.

Ahlstrom in April disclosed plans to cut up to 500 jobs worldwide, which is roughly 8 percent of its total payroll.

The action was announced after the company posted a loss in the first quarter.

Ahlstrom employs more than 400 workers at its Windsor Locks plant.

There’s been no world on layoffs there, but 8 percent would be about 30 jobs.

The Italian plants affected by the closing and cutbacks are part of the same Ahlstrom Nonwovens division as the Windsor Locks factory.

The plant in Gallarate, Italy, will be closed as well as one production line in Cressa “due to low market demand and weak long-term profitability,” President and CEO Jan Lang said in a statement.

Lang said in April the payroll reductions will save the company $66.2 million per year.

But the reductions also will cost Ahlstrom an initial $52.9 million in restructuring expenses including severance pay.

In the Fiber Composites division, of which the Windsor Locks plant is a part, sales declined due to the slowdown in the automotive, construction, and marine industries, according to Lang.

He said that demand for Ahlstrom products is expected to stay low.

Ahlstrom bought the former Dexter Corp.’s Windsor Locks plant in 2000.

The 233-year-old Dexter Co. went out of business that year.

The plant, now known as Ahlstrom Windsor Locks LLC, makes a variety of “fiber composites,” or paper products from wood pulp and synthetic fibers.

The products that are made in the South Windsor plant range from baby wipes to tea bags.