Pfleiderer closes Nidda plant

Production will permanently cease at Pfleiderer’s Nidda MDF and HDF plant today.

The closure, first announced at the start of 2011, effectively finalises the group’s operational restructuring in Germany.

Nidda’s customers and products will be taken on by the MDF/HDF factory in Baruth, Brandenburg, where a €4m investment is being made this year to support the extra business.

Until now, Baruth has specialised in the production of very thin HDF panels for laminate flooring manufacturers but in future it will be set up for the production of black coloured MDF, deep milled quality and thick MDF panels.

The closure of Nidda affects 140 employees, while negotiations with potential buyers of the factory site are also taking place.

“By shutting down production in Nidda, Pfleiderer has withdrawn the smallest and oldest MDF factory from the market, thereby implementing the operational restructure which was initiated in the autumn of 2010,” Pfleiderer said.

Other factories affected in Pfleiderer’s closure programme are Gschwend and Ebersdorf with the aim of cutting down over-capacity in the market and achieving better utilisation in the remaining five factories in Germany.