IMCO Recycling recently shut down one of its furnaces at its Post Falls, Idaho facility. Along with the closing of the reverb furnace the company has laid off about half of the employees at the plant. The official closing of the furnace and layoffs took place last week.
The furnace recycles used beverage containers, scraps and dross. According to local press reports the largest customer of the Idaho facility was Kaiser, which is presently in bankruptcy protection.
According to Bob Holian, senior vice president of IMCO, the decision, it is hoped, will be strictly a temporary one. Sluggish demand for the company’s finished product is a main reason for the closure. The decision to close the furnace follows announcements by a host of aluminum facilities in the Northwest to close furnaces, lines or whole facilities.
The company also temporarily closed another plant in Utah and reduced production at several other plants.
IMCO has a total of 21 facilities in the United States.