Bloomington-based Apogee laying off 400 workers, closing two glass plants

Bloomington-based Apogee Enterprises announced that it will terminate 400 of its 6,100 employees and close two factories as it streamlines its business.

The board of directors approved the closing of manufacturing facilities in Statesboro, Ga., and Dallas. The termination plan mainly affects employees in its architectural framing segment.

"Through our enterprise strategy work, we are developing a roadmap for Apogee to become the economic leader in our target markets, bringing the best value to our customers," said Apogee Chief Executive Ty Silberhorn in a news release. "Our goals are to focus on the most attractive long-term opportunities, while ensuring we have the operating model and capabilities needed to consistently deliver profitable growth."

The cutbacks will help "better align" the company, he said.

The company said it expects to incur restructuring expenses of $30 million to $35 million, including $5 million to $6 million of severance and related benefits charges. The bulk of expenses will be $16 million to $18 million of non-cash asset-impairment charges related to the closing of the two plants.

The Statesboro facility produces architectural glass products under the Viracon name. That work will be moved to Apogee's plant in Owatonna, Minn., which the company says has enough capacity to add that work.

The Dallas facility fabricates architectural glass under the Velocity brand, and the company said it will be exiting that business after closing the plant.

The company will split its architectural framing business into two business units: storefront and finishing solutions, which will focus on building entrances; and window and wall systems, which will focus on midsize to large architectural projects.

Restructuring efforts already have begun and are expected to be completed by the first quarter of Apogee's fiscal 2023. Apogee's fiscal year ends in February.

The company had said in an October filing that it was seeking at least $10 million to $20 million in cost savings by the end of fiscal 2023.

The actions that have been approved are expected to now help the company achieve annualized savings of $20 million to $30 million by the end of fiscal 2023.

In Apogee's most recently completed fiscal year which ended Feb. 27, the company had revenue of $1.2 billion, down 11.3% from the prior year and net income of $15.4 million that was down 75% from the last fiscal year.

Annual results were affected by a slowdown in the non-residential building segment due to the pandemic.