Alcan Inc. announced the restructuring of its Engineered Products facilities in Singen, Germany, and Sierre, Switzerland, in order to improve efficiency and ensure their long-term viability. Alcan will integrate its extrusion activities at the Singen and Sierre sites, and restructure the automotive structures and composite into its operations at Singen.

"In Europe, Alcan, like all manufacturers, is faced with increasing international competition and challenging market conditions. To remain successful, the Company must continuously assess its position and identify ways to improve it,” said Michel Jacques, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alcan Engineered Products. “Today’s announced measures will increase our ability to deliver competitive products to our customers,” he added.

These actions will affect approximately 300 people at the Singen site and approximately 110 people at the Sierre plant.

The details of  the announcement are:

· The extruded product facilities in Singen and Sierre will be managed as a single operating unit within the Extruded Products business unit. The integration of the activities and the combination of support functions will optimize the operational efficiency of the two facilities. This would affect approximately 120 employees in Singen and 110 in Sierre.
· The automotive structures operation in Singen will focus its superior design capabilities and technological know-how on crash management systems and other similar applications. Up to 70 employees may be affected by this decision.
· In response to challenging market conditions in Central Europe, an unfavourable development in the exchange rate between the Euro and the US$ and rising raw material costs, the Composites operations in Singen will be realigned to optimize the capacity utilization, improving the competitiveness and ultimately better serving its customers. This move could affect up to 90 employees.
· In addition, up to 20 employees at Singen’s Shared Service center may be affected.

“Alcan has been present in Singen and Sierre for many years. We are very conscious of our responsibilities and we intend to manage the social and human consequences of these critically important actions in the most sensitive way,” added Michel Jacques. Currently, more than 2,200 employees work at Alcan’s Engineered Products site in Singen and some 1,200 in Switzerland’s Valais region.

Source: Alcan