Hydro to close two US aluminum extrusion plants

Oslo, Norway-based aluminum producer Hydro will close extrusion plants in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Belton, South Carolina, due to oversupply concerns and an effort to streamline the company’s North American extrusion business.

The decision to close the plants came after “a careful and extensive analysis of market capacity requirements and equipment utilization within Hydro’s North American extrusion business,” says Charlie Straface, the company’s business unit president.

The last day of operations at the plants will be Jan. 1, 2020 with operations to fully end in the first quarter of 2020.

About 150 employees who work at the Belton plant will be affected. Affected employees are being encouraged to apply for available opportunities at Hydro’s other locations in North America, the company says.

The company also has began the process of retooling and transferring business to other facilities in North America to “minimize the potential impact to customers.”

“Restructuring efforts like this are never easy, but we believe that these closures will better align our extrusion capacity with the North American market and enable us to continue to meet the needs of our customers now and for years to come,” the company says.

Hydro operates multiple business units in the U.S. offering aluminum in billets, rolled form, extrusion and precision tubing. The company employs 6,630 employees in the U.S. across 30 locations. The Belton and Kalamazoo plants provide extrusion, machining, fabrication and finishing services, according to the company’s website.