Clariant Announces Closures in 'Global Asset Optimisation Project'

photo http://www.clariant.com/

Clariant has annouced a number of site closures as an initial conclusion to its Global Asset Optimization Project (GANO).

Sites planned for closure are Huningue, France: Pontypridd, UK; CIVAC, Cuernavaca in Mexico; and parts of two plants at Clariant sites in Germany, at Gendorf and Frankfurt. In addition, Clariant will now initiate an evaluation of all strategic options for its site in Onsan, South Korea.

According to Clariant "Project GANO is part of a wider restructuring program at Clariant aimed at closing the gap the company has compared to peers regarding several key performance indicators. The Project addresses the structural deficits of Clariant’s production network as well as long term overcapacity issues. It will continue to identify further optimization potential."

Whilst such a move is tough, 570 job losses in total, it represents only the first stage in Clariant's optimisation programme. Clariant has hinted that further changes can be expected between now and 2013, as it "continues to identify further optimisation potential".

Such structural changes are necessary, however. As noted in the previous post on the new reality for petchems, highly efficient and flexible manufacturing assets will be required to survive in the post-recession world. Clariant is taking bold steps, we can expect many more to follow.