Schott is to move select optical glass production from its Duryea, USA site to Germany, resulting in the loss of up to 80 jobs at the Pennsylvania plant.
Schott will move and centralise a portion of its optical glass production to its headquarters in Mainz, Germany.
The move is scheduled for March 2015.
If available, Schott will offer alternative jobs at the Duryea plant and other North American Schott locations.
The decision only impacts select optical glass production inside Schott’s Advanced Optics Division.
It does not affect Schott’s non-continuous melting operations, which will continue to manufacture laser glass, infrared glass, and other specific optical glasses.
Schott’s North America Research & Development Center, also located in Duryea, is not affected by this decision.
“Worldwide demand for optical glass has been negatively impacted by the advent of smaller, hand-held technologies,” says Michael Brown, Site Manager of Schott’s plant in Duryea.
“Smartphones have decreased demand for traditional video and still cameras, thus necessitating the need to strategically restructure this portion of our business.”
By consolidating a portion of the optical glass production to its headquarters in Germany, the company centralises its worldwide production of optical glass, which has been manufactured in Germany ever since the founding of the company in 1884.
