Rehau to shutter window plant in Winnipeg

Rehau Americas, a molder of plastic products for the construction, automotive and industry sectors, will close its manufacturing plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the end of 2018.

“The decision to cease operations at our window profile extrusion plant in Winnipeg was difficult but necessary,” Christian Fabian, CEO of Rehau Americas, said in a statement. “There is no realistic prospect for profitability, and therefore we have reached the unfortunate but inevitable decision to close this facility.”

The Winnipeg plant employs approximately 75 workers, and produces rigid PVC profiles for residential and commercial window manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada.

“We have a compelling business need to better align our assets with marketplace trends and customer requirements,” Fabian said. “To that end, we are setting up our manufacturing network to service innovative production lines – in strategic geographic areas – to better meet current and future production needs and the evolving needs of our customers.”

Fabian also said that customer orders will be completed and the inventory sold off during the transition to a North American focus on technologically advanced, sustainable profile designs.

In its statement, Rehau Americas also said that optimizing its global manufacturing network is a key part of the company’s group strategy, which involves focusing on core markets, increasing growth in developing and emerging markets such as Central and South America, and driving increased value-added innovation.

Headquartered in Leesburg, Va., Rehau Americas is a subsidiary of Rehau AG + Co., which employs approximately 20,000 workers at more than 170 locations around the world.