The forest products company UPM unveiled a new cost-shrinking blueprint on Thursday, aimed at trimming its expenditures by 150 million euros annually by next year.
The plan calls for shutting down massive paper machines in Britain, France as well as two in Finland, at the Kaukas mill in Lappeenranta and the Jämsänkoski mill between Tampere and Jyväskylä.
The firm estimates this will mean the loss of 550 jobs, but has not specified how this will break down nationally. UPM now has some 600 employees in Jämsänkoski and 320 in Lappeenranta.
UPM also plans to concentrate administration of its Paper ENA delivery system in centrally-located Germany rather than Finland.
The company’s CEO Jussi Pesonen says that operating rates at its facilities are currently “unsatisfactory” and that there is no improvement in sight for next year. Simply put, therefore, production must be lowered to match demand and improve profitability, he asserts.
