H.B. Fuller Co. recently announced an initiative to accelerate its growth by restructuring various parts of its business to more closely align with the company’s 2020 strategic vision.

“Our results over the past five years demonstrate the strength of our long-term growth strategy and the commitment of our employees to the company’s success,” said Jim Owens, president and CEO. “Over the past five years, we have transformed our market focus, innovation portfolio and manufacturing capabilities to deliver value for customers, shareholders and employees. As we continue to shift our product portfolio to a richer mix of higher-growth, higher-profitability adhesive market segments, we need to ensure our resources align with our vision. The proactive changes we are announcing will allow us to invest in the highest opportunity areas within our portfolio and become more agile as we support our customers’ success and deliver our 2020 plan.”

The restructuring initiative reportedly will include the elimination or relocation of approximately 220 positions globally by early 2017 across various businesses and functions and product line and operations enhancements and efficiencies. The changes intends to allow H.B. Fuller to operate more efficiently, while proactively responding to end-market and global industry dynamics, such as global prices for petrochemicals and a significantly stronger U.S. dollar.

“These changes support our plan to deliver 10% adjusted EPS growth in 2017 vs. 2016 on a comparable 52 week basis,” said Owens. “Our fourth quarter numbers are not yet finalized, but we expect results in line with previous guidance.”

These actions, in addition to other initiatives to optimize operations, product lines and business portfolios, reportedly will result in restructuring charges of $17-20 million ($13-16 million after-tax) during the 2017 fiscal year. These charges will be excluded from the company’s adjusted earnings per share. The company expects the program to deliver approximately $18 million in annual savings, a portion of which will be realized in 2017.

For more information, visit www.hbfuller.com.