Finnish industrial machinery maker Metso has concluded the union negotiations at its Trelleborg rubber and Poly-Met factory in Sweden, announced in November 2023. It says that “after carefully evaluating the supply chain operations at a regional and global level from the customer proximity, logistics, and efficiency perspectives”, the company has decided to discontinue the factory operations.
Metso has approximately 120 employees in Trelleborg. The decision will affect 68 manufacturing-related positions. The factory operations in Trelleborg will be ramped down in stages from the beginning of the second quarter of 2024, with full closure expected in the third quarter. Thereafter, Metso will have around 50 employees based in Trelleborg, working in product management, support functions, and other global roles.
“During the negotiations, we evaluated the future of the factory as a whole and concluded that discontinuing the rubber and Poly-Met manufacturing operations in Sweden was unfortunately the only feasible solution. Our employees in Trelleborg are highly skilled and experienced manufacturing professionals, and we will do our best to support them in finding new job opportunities. The plant closure will be implemented in a phased manner to ensure good customer service and production capability build-up in other plants,” says Heikki Metsälä, President, Consumables business area, Metso.
European rubber and Poly-Met customers will be mainly served by Metso’s factory in Lithuania, where production capabilities will be further strengthened.
It also closed a rubber parts manufacturing operations in Ersmark, Sweden, in 2020.
After the closing of the factory in Trelleborg, Metso will have rubber and Poly-Met factories in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, India, Lithuania, and Australia.