Weyerhaeuser Announces Shutdowns

Friday, October 19, 2007 03:59 AM

The slow US housing market, and the high value of the Canadian dollar have taken their toll on Weyerhaeuser.

The company announced late yesterday that it is closing its oriented standboard pants in Drayton Valley Alberta and Wawa, Ontario for an indefinite period of time. It will also indefinitely close its laminated strand lumber plant in Deerwood Minnesota. The shut downs are to take place before the end of 2007.

For Drayton Valley it will mean 130 employees will be out of work, while in Wawa, a further 132 employees will be let go.

The sawmill next to the OSB plant in Drayton Valley will continue to operate.

"The decline in North American housing starts has reduced demand for wood products, requiring us to rationalize our supply of OSB and engineered wood," said Steven R. Rogel, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We remain committed to these markets. This move enables our remaining plants to better execute our customer strategies."

The company will provide the affected employees with severance pay as well as job-transition services and counselling.

"These difficult decisions are not a reflection on the hard work of our employees," Rogel said. "They are the result of today's challenging business environment, and part of an ongoing effort to strengthen Weyerhaeuser's overall portfolio to enhance shareholder value."

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Posted on Friday, October 19, 2007 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: pisspulper on October 19 2007 7:30 AM

"They are the result of today's challenging business environment, and part of an ongoing effort to strengthen Weyerhaeuser's overall portfolio to enhance shareholder value."

Regardless of the dollar/ lumber issue, this is always to read as " sharholder return is down"

Posted by: Parrothead on October 19 2007 7:36 AM

Haven't you noticed? Weyerhaeuser is collapsing under it's own weight. Ever since they went out of their way to pay 6 billion dollars for Willamette Industries (a $2 Billion company at best) Weyco has been faltering. I'm actually quite shocked that they continue to operate in Canada at all.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 19 2007 10:13 AM

Quite true Parrothead.
Many companies that have done so well for so long are having the same problems.
Maybe they need to learn to stop spending like the money will never run out?
I think we are going to see a lot more of the big guns biting the dust!

Posted by: Chadermando on October 19 2007 1:12 PM

BTW who gives them the cheep money, and who collects the assets when they fail to make the payments for the 'cheep' money? Banksters....

Canfor is no different in the long run. Its only a matter of time before they become the next 360 Networks, Enron type of private assets for the global banking elite.

Posted by: Harbinger on October 19 2007 7:09 PM

One has to wonder how the Americans coped with their high dollar.