Metso to Shut Down Former Nordberg Facility

Finnish industrial conglomerate Metso Corp. is planning to shut down the Milwaukee factory that produced crushers under the Nordberg brand name for decades.

Metso, which has acquired assets and brands including Svedala and Nordberg, will shut down the plant as part of a cost-cutting and capacity reduction initiative.

Universal Hammermill, which Metso also acquired years ago, was sold to a privately owned company more than two years ago. Universal Engineering Corp., the company that acquired the Universal Hammermill and Universal Engineering lines, is still operational. The privately owned company is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

In addition to closing plants and offices in Finland, France and other parts of the U.S., Metso has announced it will cease production of heavy-duty mining crushers and other products at the Milwaukee plant by the end of June 2004.

According to a corporate news release, Metso will transfer production of its crushers to other Metso facilities and outsource some work to North American subcontractors.