As part of an ongoing restructuring, materials maker Trinseo has closed three acrylic sheet plants, including one in New Mexico.
The shuttered plants are in Belen, N.M.; Bronderslev, Denmark; and Rho, Italy. In a news release, officials with Trinseo in Wayne, Pa., said that work done at those plants primarily will be moved to facilities in Florence, Ky., and Saint-Avold, France.
The Belen and Bronderslev plants make cast sheet, while the Rho plant makes extruded sheet.
Trinseo also is closing a styrene monomer plant in Terneuzen, Netherlands on Nov. 1. Officials said that Trinseo now will purchase all of its styrene needs from third party suppliers to support its downstream businesses.
In total, these moves are expected to result in annual cost savings of about $75 million. Anticipated future cash payments from these actions are about $50 million, with $35 million of this set to be incurred in 2024.
In an email to Plastics News, a Trinseo spokesman said the closings would eliminate a total of about 165 jobs. The Terneuzen and Belen sites should close within the next 30-60 days, he added.
"Decisions like this that impact the livelihoods of our colleagues are never easy and this decision in no way reflects on the capabilities of our dedicated teammates in Terneuzen, or at other operations that were part of this optimization effort," CEO Frank Bozich said in the release.
He added that, given reduced European demand and global styrene capacity additions, Trinseo "believes that we will be able to support our downstream business effectively through market purchases."
In other cost-cutting moves, Trinseo in the last year has sold an acrylic sheet plant in Matamoros, Mexico, to Plaskolite LLC, closed a styrene monomer plant and a polycarbonate resin line in Germany and reduced styrene butadiene latex production in Finland.
For the second quarter of 2023, Trinseo reported sales of $963 million, down 32 percent from the same quarter in 2022. The firm posted a second-quarter loss of $349 million after showing a $37 million profit in the year-ago period.
In May, Trinseo restarted the sale process for its styrenics business, changing strategy to include marketing individual assets and regional businesses included in that unit. During 2022, Trinseo attempted to sell its styrenics business, but ended those efforts because of unfavorable economic conditions. Units covered by the sale are PS resin plants in Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong and Indonesia and styrene monomer plants in Germany and the Netherlands.
Trinseo employs 3,300 worldwide and posted sales of about $5 billion in 2022. On Wall Street, Trinseo's per-share stock price began 2023 at $23.50 but was near $6.10 in early trading Oct. 30 for a loss of almost 75 percent so far in 2023.