Wausau Window and Wall Systems brand 'retired.' What does that mean for local facilities and employees?
WAUSAU – After 25 years, the Wausau Window and Wall Systems brand will cease to exist.
The business’s parent company told the Wausau Daily Herald Friday that the Wausau Window and Wall Systems brand is being “retired” as the company looks to simplify its Architectural Framing Systems brand portfolio.
“Going forward, our Architectural Framing Systems segment will sell products through our other brands: Alumicor, EFCO, Linetec and Tubelite,” said Jeff Huebschen, vice president of investor relations and communications for Apogee Enterprises Inc. “Our operations in Wausau will contribute to products that are sold under all these brand names, including certain products now manufactured at the Walker, Michigan, location.”
That move comes as the parent company also announced Jan. 30 a workforce reduction and closure of a facility in Walker, Michigan. Some Wausau-based employees were impacted by the workforce reductions, but Huebschen declined to disclose the number of positions affected in Wausau or the specific positions.
Apogee is not closing any of its facilities located in the Wausau area, Huebschen told a Daily Herald reporter. Instead, he said the company is “positioning our Wausau facilities to be a key manufacturing hub for our Architectural Framing Systems segment.”
The company plans to transfer certain production operations to its Wausau locations from the facility that closed in Walker, Michigan, Huebschen said.
The company will begin executing these actions immediately and expects to be substantially completed in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The actions announced Jan. 30 are expected to lead to annualized cost savings of $12 million to $14 million and reduce the company’s workforce by approximately 250 employees, according to a news release from the company.
“These actions are intended to better position our business for long-term growth, and we anticipate that our workforce and facilities in Wausau will be key components of this strategy,” Huebschen said.
This is not the first time Apogee has announced workforce reductions in recent years. In August 2021, the company announced it would lay off 400 employees and close two plants in Georgia and Texas.
The local company started as Wausau Metals in 1956 and steadily grew until 1968 when it was acquired by Apogee Enterprises Inc., a Minneapolis-based company, according to Daily Herald archives. As the company expanded its products and national markets, it outgrew its name and Wausau Metals became Wausau Window and Wall Systems in 1999. It specializes in windows and curtainwall systems.
It has a local manufacturing center in the Wausau West Industrial Park at 7800 International Drive and a plant in the Stratford Industrial Park at 212505 Stainless Ave., according to its website.
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Editor Jamie Rokus can be reached at jrokus@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jamie_Rokus.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Wausau Window and Wall Systems brand retired, employee layoffs
