Hexcel shutters Windsor plant

WINDSOR — Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL), an advanced composite materials manufacturer, closed its Windsor plant at the beginning of November.

The plant at 31815 Great Western Drive made prepregs, epoxy resins reinforced with glass or carbon fibers used in the manufacturing of wind turbines. The facility’s main customer was Vestas Wind Systems A/S, a Danish wind-energy company with U.S. manufacturing plants in Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo

“Our decision was made several weeks ago following an announcement from our wind blade customer Vestas about a reduction in demand at its Brighton and Windsor plants,” Hexcel spokeswoman Kaye Veazey said in a email.

According to Hexcel’s quarterly report filed last month, “Wind energy sales (the largest submarket in Industrial) experienced a decline of 41.5% in constant currency compared to the third quarter of 2019. The reduction reflects a customer demand shift in the U.S. market. As a result of this demand change, Hexcel will close its wind energy prepreg production facility in Windsor in early November 2020 that served the U.S. market. The Hexcel wind material prepreg production facility in Austria that serves the European market and the wind material facility in China that serves the Asian market continue to operate to produce materials for our wind energy customers.”

The Windsor plant officially closed Nov. 2. 

The human impact of the closure is unclear. The company, which employs about 7,000 workers worldwide, has not reported a headcount for its Windsor office, nor has the company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act with the state. WARN notices are generally required when a company with more than 100 employees has a mass layoff or closes. While Hexcel confirmed the Windsor plant closure Veazey did not respond to a question about the fate of the facility’s workforce.

Media reports from April said the company planned to layoff nearly 300 workers in Washington and California, but did not mention Colorado.

The Windsor closure comes just months after a $6.3 billion merger with Fort Collins-based Woodward Inc. (Nasdaq: WWD) collapsed. 

In April, the companies said the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 virus required each side to focus on maintaining its own business.

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