James Cropper announces restructuring measures, one of four paper machines will be permanently idled

Aiming to create a more resilient and higher margin business, the company is to start an investment programme to simplify processes and combine group functions.

British manufacturer of specialty papers, luxury paper and products James Cropper has announced a restructuring programme. Among other things, the company will reduce the number of paper machines in operation from four to three, with two machines anticipated to be in production at any one time. James Cropper says it aims to create a more resilient and higher margin business.

Furthermore, the three separate divisions (James Cropper Paper, Technical Fibre Products and Colourform) will be turned into four market-facing segments under the Group name: James Cropper Creative Papers, James Cropper Luxury Packaging, James Cropper Technical Fibres and James Cropper Future Energy. The reorganisation and renaming will be delivered within the remainder of this calendar year, according to James Cropper.

Furthermore, the company has announced a multi-million pound investment in the next three years to simplify processes and systems and combine group functions.

To drive future growth through innovation, Patrick Willink has been appointed to the new position of Chief Innovation Officer, starting immediately. Mr Willink has been active in different management roles within James Cropper, most recently as Managing Director of the luxury packaging division Colourform. James Cropper will also scale up the Innovation team, which will look into future markets and customers as well as innovative measures to drive costs down and volumes up.

The announced measure will lead to job redundancies. Overall, approximately 10 per cent of employees will potentially be affected, predominantly within the Paper and Group functions, at a cost of £2.1m. Accordingly James Cropper has submitted an advance notification of redundancies, with a 90-day consultation period commencing with immediate effect.

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