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NEWS
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Weyerhaeuser Eliminates Three Mill Manager
Positions in Flathead Valley
Manager positions have been cut in the wood products division in Columbia Falls, Evergreen
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
In the aftermath of a major merger between Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek Timber Co., three management posi- tions have been eliminated in the Flat- head Valley.
Company o cials con rmed with the Beacon that three manager positions were cut last week in the wood products division. The mill positions existed in both Evergreen and Columbia Falls.
“As our Montana operations have joined a much larger Weyerhaeuser Wood Products organization, we now have new benchmarks for organiza- tional structure,” Tom Ray, Montana resource team leader for Weyerhaeuser, said. “Given that, the decision was made to modify the wood products structure here in Montana and eliminate three manager positions.”
The cuts are the rst to emerge pub- licly since the merger between Weyer- haeuser and Plum Creek Timber Co. last month.
Weyerhaeuser operates the former Plum Creek stud and plywood mills in Evergreen and plywood and medium density berboard plants, as well as a sawmill, in Columbia Falls. There is also the corporate headquarters, known as the Cedar Palace, in Colum- bia Falls, where roughly 100 people work in administrative roles.
An employee organizes stacks of lumber at Weyerhaeuser in Evergreen. BEACONFILE PHOTO
The Seattle-based timber giant o - cially merged with Plum Creek on Feb. 19, forming the largest private owner of timberland in the U.S, with more than 13 million acres, including 880,000 acres in Montana. Weyerhaeuser purchased Plum Creek for $8.4 billion.
Following the merger, Weyerhaeuser o cials said manufacturing operations “will remain in Montana and the jobs associated with manufacturing will remain.”
Plum Creek employed 759 people in Montana, including 633 in the manufac- turing division.
Company o cials con rmed some positions would be relocated to Wey- erhaeuser’s corporate headquarters in Seattle, while others would be elimi- nated over the next 24 months.
“There is obviously a duplication in some roles and that will result in some positions being eliminated,” Weyerhae- user spokesperson Anthony Chavez said last month. “That work is underway. I don’t have any speci cs to share at this point in time. There are still a lot of deci- sions to be made.”
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
What does it mean to you?
Applied Materials Restructuring 16 Positions
at Kalispell Facility
Employees o ered new positions as tech giant responds to market volatility
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
Applied Materials, a global supplier
of chipmaking equipment for smart- phones and other cutting-edge technol- ogy, has placed 16 employees in Kalispell in a separation program.
Kevin Winston, head of corporate communications at Applied Materi- als, said the local employees have 60 days to apply for other positions within the company. If they do not, they will receive a separation package that includes severance.
“Placing employees in our separa- tion program wasn’t an easy decision, but ultimately it was necessary for us to align our cost structure and headcount to remain competitive in the market,” Winston said.
Applied Materials currently has 544 full-time and temporary employees in
Montana and roughly 21,000 world- wide, according to Winston.
Winston said the restructuring is due to volatility in the market. He said he does not foresee any other local work- force changes in the near future.
Last September, the company closed its manufacturing facility in Libby and o ered 17 employees similar positions in Kalispell, where Applied Materials has operated a plating, packaging and cleans business unit for 10 years.
The primary Kalispell facility, for- merly Semitool along West Reserve Drive, plays a key role in the Applied Materials supply chain, developing components used to create semicon- ductor and display technology that are then used by other companies to make the world’s most popular electronics, including smartphones. The company also operates an o ce on Birch Grove
o U.S. Highway 2.
Last week Applied Materials said
it plans to increase its investment in China to gain higher market traction. The California-based company aims to invest nearly $615 million for expansion in Asia over the next few years, Reuters reported. The company is targeting the Asian market a year after a proposed merger fell apart with Tokyo Electron of Japan, another global chipmaker. The U.S. Department of Justice said that combining the two companies would hamper competition in the industry.
The deal, valued at $9.39 billion and announced in 2013, would have created a new tech giant worth $29 billion that would have controlled more than a quar- ter of the market in the rapidly evolving digital sector.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
MARCH 23, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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