Kaiser Aluminum on December 18 announced plans to close operations at its Tulsa, Okla., extrusion facility and significantly reduce operations at its Bellwood, Va., facility. Approximately 45 employees at the Tulsa facility and 125 employees at the Bellwood facility will be affected.
The Tulsa and Bellwood facilities primarily produce extruded seamless tube and rod and bar products sold principally to service centers for general engineering applications. The operations and workforce reductions are a result of deteriorating economic and market conditions. Kaiser Aluminum continues to maintain capacity throughout its operations capable of meeting customer needs and serving anticipated market demand in the core markets of extruded rod and bar, seamless tube, and automotive products. The Bellwood facility will continue to produce drive shaft tube for automotive applications, seamless tube and large diameter rod and bar for service centers.
These actions are expected to be completed by early 2009 and result in a restructuring charge of approximately $6 million to $10 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 related to employee benefits, asset impairment and other related costs.
Kaiser Aluminum, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, Calif., is a leading producer of fabricated aluminum products, serving customers worldwide with highly-engineered solutions for aerospace and high-strength, general engineering, and custom automotive and industrial applications. The company’s North American facilities annually produce more than 500 million pounds of value-added sheet, plate, extrusions, forgings, rod, bar and tube products, adhering to traditions of quality, innovation and service that have been key components of our culture since the company was founded in 1946.
