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Rayonier Advanced invests $25mn to restructure production

01 Aug '15

3 min read

Rayonier Advanced Materials, a producer of high purity, cellulose specialties natural polymers is undertaking a $25 million investment restructuring to better align assets to current market conditions.

“The restructuring will also improve operating efficiency and increase commodity throughput and help respond to persistent imbalance of supply and demand in the cellulose specialties market,” it said in a press release.

The Company will reconfigure its asset base to modify its 190,000 ton C-line at the Jesup plant for the permanent production of commodity products, specifically fluff and viscose.

Certain assets that were installed on the C-line during the cellulose specialties expansion will be repositioned to the A-line to replace less efficient equipment.

Upon completion in the first quarter of 2016, its overall cellulose specialties capacity will be reduced by an annual 190,000 tons or 28 per cent.

But at the same time, its annual fluff and viscose production capacity will increase by approximately 11 per cent to 245,000 tons annually.

These initiatives are expected to reduce costs by approximately $14 million annually, in part driven by a reduction of 43 manufacturing positions, and a one-time, non-cash write-off of $28 million.

"In light of our asset optimisation initiatives that balance our capacity with our existing sales volume, we are de-emphasising cellulose specialties volume growth,” said CEO Paul Boynton.

"As a result, we will be focused on exceeding the expectations of our cellulose specialties customers and making long-term commitments to our fluff customers,” he added.

Boynton noted that, despite reducing capacity, it remains committed to serving its cellulose specialties customers, as evidenced by its investment in its three state-of-the art production lines.

“This announcement will not alter our ability to provide our customers with the high-quality products, superior technical support, and security of supply that are critical to their operations,” Boynton noted.

Rayonier Advanced Materials engineers natural polymeric chemical chains to create dozens of customised high-purity performance fibres at its plants in Florida and Georgia.

Rayonier Advanced Materials' intellectual property and manufacturing processes have been developed over 85 years, resulting in unique properties and very high quality and consistency.

The Company's facilities can produce up to 675,000 metric tons of cellulose specialties products annually for use in a wide range of industrial and consumer products.

Rayonier Advanced Materials is consistently ranked among the nation's top 50 exporters and delivers products to 79 ports around the world, serving customers in 20 countries across five continents. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India