Rautaruukki’s Ruukki Construction division is to improve production efficiency and optimize production capacity and logistics in the central eastern European region as a part of Rautaruukki’s new corporate wide operational excellence program. In the Czech Republic, the smaller profiling unit at Ostrava will be closed and the machinery will be gradually relocated to Ruukki’s bigger plants in Hungary, Poland and Romania by the end of the first quarter of 2009. Employer employee negotiations at the Ostrava unit will start soonest and affect 81 people. The Ostrava unit has been located in rented premises since 2002. In future, roofing and cladding profiles for the Czech and Slovak markets will be delivered from Hungary and Poland. In Poland, a profitability program has been launched at the Oborniki steel frame and sandwich panel plant. The 9 month program will enhance processes and aims at a significant improvement in the plant’s earnings performance. Detailed actions will be specified as the program progresses. These actions are being taken with the aim of an annual improvement in Ruukki Construction’s operating profit of more than EUR 3 million starting in 2009.
