A. Schulman to shutter Ohio concentrates and additives plant

Compound and resin supplier A. Schulman Inc. is closing a color concentrates and additives plant in Stryker, Ohio, in April 2015 and shifting the plant’s production to other facilities in North America.

The Stryker plant has been producing products primarily for markets in the U.S. and Mexico, the company said in a news release. “It employs about 70 people and was part of Schulman’s acquisition of the Ferro Specialty Plastics Business, which was completed in July 2014,” the release said.

Fairlawn, Ohio-based Schulman also said it is making selling, general and administrative (SG&A) reductions in North America “as part of its ongoing effort to drive further synergies from recent acquisitions and eliminate duplicate functions.” Those cuts will result in the elimination of about 10 jobs at various locations.

“Our recent acquisitions have added seven plants over the past three years,” Schulman COO Bernard Rzepka said in the release. “Based on our evaluation of a variety of factors including capacity utilization, location and laboratory and manufacturing capabilities, we have decided to consolidate our North American production capacity to drive efficiencies. This is a difficult decision, but the consolidation illustrates our enduring commitment to right-sizing our global capacity to best serve customers and allow for profitable growth in key markets. In addition to evaluating our manufacturing footprint, we continually look for other ways to improve efficiency and have identified further opportunities to achieve additional savings by streamlining our back office operations in the U.S.”