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A variety of packaging manufacturers announced facility closures and layoffs in March, including for fiber, plastics and industrial packaging.
Here are the workforce changes Packaging Dive tracked last month:
- Graphic Packaging International will permanently close its coated recycled paperboard manufacturing facility in Middletown, Ohio, by June 1. Approximately 130 employees will be affected. GPI executives had previously discussed on multiple earnings calls that the company would close this facility as part of its consolidation toward newer, more high-tech mills, but this comes months ahead of schedule.
- Mauser Packaging in Baltimore will lay off 22 people when it closes an industrial packaging manufacturing plant there, according to a worker adjustment and retraining notification filed with the state. The closure is slated for mid-May.
- Orbis will close a facility in Osage City, Kansas, which will affect 79 employees, according to a notice. The reusable transport packaging company decided that modernizing this reusable plastic trays and totes plant isn’t viable, according to local media reports, and it’s moving the equipment to other company sites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico starting next week and running through September.
- Pretium Packaging will permanently close a plant in Jacksonville, Florida, and lay off 48 workers, according to its WARN letter. The phased layoffs are scheduled to begin May 30 and finish by June 30. This facility is not represented by a union, and there are no bumping rights.
- RTS Packaging, a Sonoco company, will close its plant in Scarborough, Maine, according to a filing with the state, affecting 67 employees. The company cites difficult economic conditions for the closure, and it plans to offer affected employees outplacement assistance, according to local media reports.
- Pregis told employees that it will shut down a plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, reports WTVA. Approximately 40 employees work at that polyethylene sheet foam facility. The company said it will provide job placement assistance to the employees.
Other updates
- Danimer Bioplastics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to sell its assets. It will close its facilities in Bainbridge, Georgia, and Winchester, Kentucky, resulting in layoffs for 163 employees, according to WARN filings.
- O-I Glass said in a securities filing that it has “finalized plans” to close a European plant in an unspecified location and that more “capacity closures and other restructuring actions are expected in 2025.” The closure will affect 170 employees, and customer business will be redirected to the company’s other European plants.
