At a Central Works Council meeting of Alphacan, an Arkema group subsidiary, the management has informed the trade unions of a project to reorganize the French activities of its Profiles business, which would result, in particular, in the closure of the Hasparren site (France). This project will be discussed at an Extraordinary Central Works Council meeting on December 11.

The industrial facilities in France of Alphacan’s Profiles business currently include four production sites, namely Chantonnay (Vendée), Sablé-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe), Gaillac (Tarn), and Hasparren (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). Its PVC profile manufacture consists of a large number of product ranges for windows, fences, panel shutters and roller shutters, siding, roofing components, and siding for mobile homes.

The project presented to the personnel representative bodies provides for the closure of loss-making product lines, and the redeployment of the other ranges on other sites of the business that are geographically closer to the markets or better suited to high-volume production. This reorganization would result in the shutdown of the Hasparren site, which mainly produces the ranges in question. It would also involve a € 1 M investment plan.

The project, which is subject to the preliminary legal information and consultation process involving the personnel representative bodies, would result in the loss of 37 positions following the closure of the Hasparren site, and the creation of 12 positions across the other three French sites of Alphacan’s Profiles business.

One of the leaders in the PVC converting market, Alphacan, an Arkema Group subsidiary, employs 1,150 people at its 11 production sites in a number of European countries, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Every manufactured product from Alphacan’s two sectors of activity, PVC profiles and pipes, bears testimony to the Company’s know-how and industrial expertise. 

A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema consists of three strategically related businesses: Vinyl Products, Industrial Chemicals, and Performance Products. Arkema reports sales of 5.7 billion euros. Arkema has 15,200 employees in over 40 countries and six research centers located in France, the United States and Japan. With internationally recognized brands, Arkema holds leadership positions in its principal markets.