Albany International Corp. reported that its German affiliate, Württembergische Filztuchfabrik K. Geschmay GmbH has announced plans to reduce manufacturing operations at its press fabric manufacturing facility in Göppingen, Germany.

This planned action is driven by the continuing consolidation of paper industry customers in Europe, and the continuous need to match the Company’s paper machine clothing manufacturing capacity in Europe with the demands of customers.

The Göppingen plan would be subject to applicable local law and would be implemented in accordance with such law and in consultation with the Works Council.

The proposed action in Germany in no way reflects on the performance of the 52 affected employees; it is a business necessity, driven by both the existing and anticipated market conditions.

Following completion of this planned action, the Company’s European press fabrics manufacturing activities will now be centered in Halmstad, Sweden. There will be no impact on the Company’s other European machine clothing manufacturing operations.

Albany International is a global advanced textiles and materials processing company, with two core businesses. It’s machine clothing is the world's leading producer of custom-designed fabrics and belts essential to production in the paper, nonwovens, and other process industries. lbany International is headquartered in Rochester, New Hampshire, operates 20 plants in 11 countries, employs 4,000 people worldwide