Restructuring planned at Arkema
France-based chemicals company Arkema is to restructure its North American activities.
It is hoped staff reductions within Arkema Inc, its subsidiary headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at its Canadian affiliate in Oakville and at production sites in Louisville and Carrollton (Kentucky), Mobile (Alabama), Memphis (Tennessee), Birdsboro and Bristol (Pennsylvania), combined with significant cost-cutting and process-efficiency improvements, will improve its cost basis by $40 million (€30 million) in 2010 and achieve a total annual saving of $50 million by 2012.
“These cost-cutting measures further strengthen Arkema and its North American operations,” said Bernard Roche, president and chief executive officer of Arkema Inc, “both to maintain its competitive edge in the current economic downturn and to grow once the economy rebounds.”
These restructuring efforts are part of an overall $740 million cost-cutting plan for the entire group implemented since 2006.
