Ahlstrom, a global high performance materials company, plans to close its plant in Barcelona, Spain. The plant, which manufactures products for advanced and transportation filtration businesses, has suffered from continued weakening demand in Southern Europe. The company estimates that about 30 employees will be affected starting from the second half of 2012.
The Barcelona plant, part of the Filtration business area, is one of the Ahlstrom's smallest production units. The plant has a saturator and a converter unit for materials used in transportation and advanced filtration applications. In the future, customers will be served from Ahlstrom's other plants.
The measures taken by Ahlstrom to improve the efficiency at the plant have unfortunately not proved sufficient. The company will make every effort in supporting employees affected by the changes.