Kiilto plans to close Hankasalmi plant and cut jobs

Kiilto, a Finnish manufacturer of chemical industry products, will begin change negotiations on September 2 over a plan to close its plant in Hankasalmi and move production to Turku, Yle reported.

The negotiations will cover the entire organisation and could lead to up to 40 employment relationships ending in the short term, the company said. Longer-term personnel impacts could result in a further 21 employment relationships ending.

The Hankasalmi plant currently employs 18 people. Kiilto said it may offer them new positions elsewhere where possible. For some office-based employees, the workplace could change to a home office while their employment otherwise continues unchanged.

“The final number of redundancies will only be known once decisions have been made,” Kiilto Group Chief Executive Anssi Asikainen told Yle. He said the plans also include significant changes to employment terms.

The plant manufactures detergents, cleaning products and hygiene products, mainly for consumers. The proposed transfer would require increased production capacity at the Turku plant, as well as investments in developing production in Finland.

The changes would take place no earlier than 2028. Asikainen said the plans do not involve moving production or jobs abroad, but are intended to strengthen production in Finland.

Kiilto is a more than 100-year-old Finnish family-owned company that employs about 730 people in nine countries. It has around 460 employees in Finland, and its headquarters are in Lempäälä.