Strictly-Extrusion

Building products firm Heywood Williams Group is cutting back UK operations with the loss of 300 jobs. The firm announced today it will close its UK composite door factory due to a slump in profits. The group is expecting second-half losses to match the Euro 2.5m losses it recorded in the first half of the year.

It blamed the weak UK market for doors, windows and conservatories, and poor results from double glazing business Coldseal before the subsidiary’s sale in August.
The job losses represent 15% of its UK workforce. A HW spokeswoman said cuts would be across the firm’s operations in the north of England and the Midlands. She added the company was currently consulting staff on the redundancies.

Reifenhauser is setting up a plant in Suzhou, China, to produce three-layer blown film lines. The German firm has spent $2.9m so far on the plant, which is expected to reach full production in April or May next year.

Reifenhauser Singapore managing director Juergen Rehkopf said he was expecting to sell between five and seven lines within the first year of production and up to 20 lines a year in three years’ time. The plant will only assemble completed lines using components sourced from Chinese suppliers now, although the scope may be expanded later. Rehkopf said 80% of the lines produced in China would be commodity lines, adding that the lines produced in China would be priced lower than those built in Germany. Also, supplying lines from China would save time and transportation costs for Asian customers.

UK PVC window profile maker Epwin Group has sold its DJ Profiles subsidiary to Sweden’s Trelleborg Group for an undisclosed sum. The business, a leading supplier of rubber seals, tubing and cords, will remain on its site at Telford, West Midlands, and continue to supply Epwin Group companies.

Epwin acquired DJ Profiles in 1996 from the Lilleshall Group for £3.25m (E4.55m). At the time, the PVC window pioneer cited its complementary technologies and markets. But the focus of the company has now changed. Set up in David Jones, DJ Profiles supplies a number markets – including the key glazing sector – with predominantly EPDM-based sealing products. The Trelleborg takeover follows the Swedish group’s recent acquisition of Smith Industries’ Polymer Sealing Solutions.

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