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ST. GEORGE — Nearly 200 St. George employees will need to find a new place to work when the Viracon glass plant permanently closes its doors in March.

Viracon’s parent company, Apogee Enterprises Inc., announced the upcoming closure of the plant, which is located in the Fort Pierce Industrial Park.

“It is now apparent that we no longer require the capacity from our smallest domestic architectural glass plant in St. George and we will be closing that facility in March,” said Joseph Puishys, Apogee chief executive officer, in a news release Friday.

Puishys said Viracon will be able to produce more glass without the St. George plant because of a move to automation.

“This decision is not a reflection on the performance of the Viracon-St. George facility and its employees,” Viracon President Kelly Schuller said in the release. “Our human resources team will be working closely with our employees to help them find new opportunities.”

St. George Mayor Jon Pike said it will be sad to see Viracon leave southern Utah because of the number of people employed at the plant.