Madison County’s largest business temporarily shuts down

This will affect 80 workers, who won’t receive any compensation — other than health care — during the hiatus since this is not a layoff, Weyerhaeuser spokeswoman Nancy Thompson said.

“It’s just a down time, so it’s different from an actual final layoff,” Thompson said. “So we haven’t done any kind of packages because we’re not at that point.”

Thompson had no information regarding how many Madison County workers this will effect.

According to Weyerhaeuser press release, the stop in production is a response to weakened demand for wood-based products.

“Weak housing starts in the US continue to affect the demand for some wood products like Parallam,” said Mark Noles, facility manager. “This action is necessary to balance our supply to demand for this product.”

Weyerhaeuser will reassess the situation after November, though there’s no indication of what might happen to the plant if the supply and demand situation remains the same or worsens.

“I don’t have that answer now,” Thompson said. “They really don’t know. They are going to be just reassessing and they will make whatever call at that point. They haven’t shared with me kind of a what-if, and we really don’t want to speculate because we just don’t know.”

The downtime follows two substantial layoffs at the facility in the last two years. Last October, the company announced the layoff of 70 employees.

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest integrated forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2007, sales were $16.3 billion. It has offices or operations in 13 countries, with customers worldwide. It is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities.