Friday, July 31, 2015 1:45 pm

JACKSONVILLE, Florida - Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. said on Friday it will be making a US $25 million investment to better align assets to current market conditions, improve operating efficiency and increase commodity throughput.

Rayonier Advanced Materials said that in response to the persistent imbalance of supply and demand in the cellulose specialties market, the company will reconfigure its asset base to modify its 190,000 ton C-line at the Jesup, Georgia facility for the permanent production of commodity products, specifically fluff and viscose. Rayonier Advanced Materials said that certain assets that were installed on the C-line during the cellulose specialties expansion will be repositioned to the A-line to replace less efficient equipment.

Upon completion in the first quarter of 2016, the company's overall cellulose specialties capacity will be reduced by 190,000 tons, or 28 percent, while its annual fluff and viscose production capacity will increase by approximately 11 percent to 245,000 tons annually. The company's strategic repositioning is expected to reduce costs by approximately US $14 million annually, in part driven by a reduction of 43 manufacturing positions, and requires a one-time, non-cash write-off of US $28 million related to abandoned assets.