Britain“s Pilkington Plc said the cost of restructuring its US arm would rise to UK 68 million but it would bring cost savings and efficency improvements of UK 80 million a year within the next three…
Britain“s Pilkington Plc said the cost of restructuring its US arm would rise to UK 68 million but it would bring cost savings and efficency improvements of UK 80 million a year within the next three years. The glassmaker said in a statement it had completed its review of its main US operating company Pilkington Libbey-Owens-Ford and was well into the implementation of its step change programme, which was initially estimated to cost UK 48 million. Of the UK 68 million cost, Pilkington said UK 41 million could be cash costs and UK 27 million asset writedowns. The step change programme has three main elements designed to bring Pilkington Libbey-Owens-Ford to levels of productivity and efficiency at the top of the industry: improvement in float glass plant efficiency and productivity; rationalization of Automotive Glass OE and AGR manufacturing and distribution; a major reduction in corporate and business overheads. On the float glass plants, the programme aims to deliver around UK 37 million of annual benefits. In the automotive glass business, the plans are designed to deliver cost savings and profit improvements of UK 18 million a year while the corporate element of overhead costs will fall by UK 25 million a year.