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Packaging manufacturing layoff news trickled in throughout July, with multiple companies citing ongoing footprint optimization processes.
- Greif is permanently closing a fiber tubes and cores manufacturing facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina, according to a July 5 notice. The facility falls under subsidiary Caraustar, which Greif acquired in 2019. The closure is expected to happen sometime between Sept. 3 and Oct. 30. It’s part of Greif’s “network optimization process,” according to a company spokesperson. Capacity will be shifted to other Greif facilities in the Carolinas and Georgia.
- Novembal USA is permanently closing facilities in Peoria, Arizona, and Edison, New Jersey, according to a letter to government officials on July 28. The plastic caps company will cease these operations by Sept. 30, affecting 100 jobs.
- Rieke Packaging, a TriMas company, is shutting down manufacturing in Sonoma County, California, affecting approximately 70 workers, according to notices the state received July 11. TriMas Packaging said in a July 7 press release that it was “taking proactive actions to optimize its TriMas Packaging group’s manufacturing footprint and better position its business to capture future operating leverage gains when end market demand recovers to more normalized levels.” In that release it announced the closure of the 160,000-squared-foot leased manufacturing facility referenced in the Rieke notices, and said it “will reposition all of the production assets to other existing U.S. production locations” by the end of 2023.
- WestRock announced July 14 it plans to close a St. Louis corrugated container manufacturing plant come Sept. 15, ceasing production by mid-August. The company is consolidating manufacturing operations within its Midwest region, a spokesperson said in an email. The 52 employees losing their jobs in the closure will be offered severance and are eligible to apply for open positions at other WestRock facilities, the spokesperson said.
