Klausner Lumber One announced on Friday that it will idle the sawmill in Western Suwanee County, Florida and temporarily layoff some of its employees for a month or less.
Yet, the employees will still receive their benefits during this period, as Thomas Mende, president of Klausner Trading USA, said. At the moment, approximately 30 employees have been laid off and each following weel, Klausner will evaluate the situation.
Back in November 2016, the company lost a week of production because of intensive maintenance and a week in December due to the holidays. Further repair work will be necessary on some shifts. While the November and December lost time was fully paid, the company must make an exception this time, Suwannee Democrat reported.
The maintenance means that the production will be slowed or completely stopped at times and will not be at full capacity, but this will not be permanent. Yet, Klausner expects to resume its regular schedule in the coming weeks as the lumber market remains positive.
At the same time, Klausner's new Southern Pine dimension lumber mill in Live Oak, Fla. began producing 2x4 earlier this month and the mill is expected to ship most of its production overseas to a variety of destinations worldwide.
The plant will have capacity of 700 million board feet (approximately 1.6 million cubic meters) and Klausner forecasts about 350 permanent jobs in full production mode.
