Xerium Technologies is closing down its operations in the Middletown, Virginia plant location and shifting machinery to other Xerium roll plants.

“This closure will not affect the operations & employees in Xerium’s Global Rolls R&D Center in Middletown,” a press release from Xerium stated.

“In fact, it will give the R&D team more room to accomplish product development and prototypes on next generation products,” it added.

“All of the production accomplished in Middletown, VA will be moved to Xerium’s plants in Neenah, WI; Griffin, GA; Ruston, LA and Concord, NH,” Harold Bevis, Xerium’s President said.

“The equipment in the Middletown, VA plant will primarily be moved outside North America to other continents that are growing and in need of additional equipment,” Bevis also added.

“These changes are a Xerium portfolio resource allocation decision and are not reflective of any performance issues in Middletown,” the company informed.

According to Xerium, the decision to consolidate the Virginia operation is regretful but logically straight forward.

The North America market continues to downsize and reformulate due to the permanent elimination of graphical grade paper production.

“While unfortunate, it is an ongoing market process that is far from over and we fully expect to continue realigning our operations in this environment,” Xerium stated.

“We will work diligently to assist affected employees by helping them transition to other internal opportunities where available or secure employment elsewhere,” Bevis too informed.

With 27 manufacturing facilities in 13 countries around the world, Xerium has approximately 3,000 employees. (AR)