Lanxess To Cut Jobs In Rubber

Lanxess says it will improve efficiency, mainly in its synthetic rubber business, by cutting 1,000 employees from its workforce and stripping out $130 million in annual costs by 2015. As part of the restructuring, the firm will also put up for sale a number of noncore businesses, such as its rubber accelerator and antioxidant product lines, with combined annual sales of about $670 million and a headcount of another 1,000 staffers. Lanxess has about 17,500 employees. Many of the firm’s sites around the world will be affected by the restructuring, including Brunsbüttel and Dormagen, Germany, and Bushy Park, S.C. Lanxess’ actions are a response to a “temporary weakness in demand, increased competition in the market, and volatile raw material prices,” the firm says. It has already begun implementing the restructuring plan with the closure of a rubber chemicals site in South Africa and the downsizing of operations in Belgium.