DUSSELDORF, Germany (March 4)—Lanxess A.G. plans to reduce capacity for polybutadiene rubber at its Orange, Texas, plant by year-end 2007 as part of a plan to cut costs and improve efficiencies in its rubber business.
Lanxess also will implement efficiency measures at its BR unit in Port Jerome, France, and its butyl rubber unit in Zwijndrecht, Belgium. Lanxess is looking to achieve operating savings of $24 million annually at Zwijndrecht though structural measures such as asset consolidation and process optimization.
The action at Orange, where Lanxess will shut one of four BR production lines, will result in the loss of about 80 jobs, Lanxess said. Nominal annual capacity there now is 180,000 metric tons.
The company said it is improving efficiency at the unit, and since markets are near static, it expects to continue to supply the market from the reduced capacity.