Adhesive maker H.B. Fuller (St. Paul) announced Thursday it will close five overseas manufacturing facilities, resulting in the elimination of about 100 positions in sales, finance, customer service, and research and development.
The company's consolidation efforts come on the heels of purchasing Forbo Group (Baar, Switzerland) in December 2011 for $394 million; by closing plants and eliminating positions, the company is attempting to reduce redundancies between H.B. Fuller and Forbo operations. In April 2012 it announced it would close six North American manufacturing sites and eliminate about 130 positions.
This time, the plants are located in Chatteris, United Kingdom; Pirmasens, Germany; and Vigo, Spain; Borgolavezzaro, Italy; and Wels, Austria. The facilities will wind down over the next two years.
The company says the closures support its goal to increase its before-tax earnings by 15 percent by 2015. In addition, the company plans to invest about $90 million in capital investments over the next three years in its overseas operations located in Europe, India, the Middle East and Africa, which it refers to as its EIMEA operating segment.
"We have thoroughly examined every part of the now-combined EIMEA business, and I am confident that the organization we have designed will enable H.B. Fuller to achieve our profitable growth goals in EIMEA," said Jim Owens, H.B. Fuller president and CEO. "Streamlining our operations and investing where it makes sense will make the region more efficient and able to provide even better service to our customers."
