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The volume of layoff announcements among packaging manufacturers appeared to decrease in July from the more than 600 that Packaging Dive tracked in May and over 1,000 in June — some of which were taking effect in July.
- Jabil, a global manufacturer with business in packaging as well as areas such as healthcare and home appliances, filed a WARN notice in New Mexico on July 15 saying it would lay off 130 workers in Albuquerque effective Sept. 13. Flexible and rigid packaging are listed among the products capable of being manufactured in Albuquerque.
- Placon disclosed in a July 24 WARN notice that it’s permanently closing a site in Wilson, North Carolina, that produces custom and stock food packaging. Placon acquired the former Sonoco site in 2021. At the time, Placon said the site would “help meet existing capacity needs in retail and medical markets and further expand Placon’s leadership role in thermoforming sustainable post-consumer recycled PET packaging.” Effective Nov. 22, 70 employees will be impacted by the closure. WRAL News reported that, in a letter to commerce officials, the company wrote that it had experienced a notable decline in sales and revenue from products made in Wilson. Weeks earlier, Placon had touted its Wilson facility receiving zero net waste certification recognition from the Plastics Industry Association.
- WestRock was acquired by Smurfit Kappa (to form Smurfit Westrock) on July 5. That day, WestRock filed a WARN notice in Georgia saying 10 employees, working primarily in billing and collections, would be impacted by layoffs at a corporate office site in Duluth. Earlier that week, WestRock filed a WARN notice in Florida alerting that it was terminating one position — an accounts payable clerk — at a recycling plant in Jacksonville.
- Supremex, a North American paper packaging company based in Quebec, made an announcement July 24 about “optimization initiatives” for its envelopes business. It said that, effective immediately, it was closing a “very small facility” in Niagara Falls, New York, but “maintaining the premises as a distribution centre.” It also announced plans to close a facility in Concord, Ontario, when its lease expires in February 2025. Equipment from that location will be transferred to other envelope plants in the Toronto area. “These measures will not result in significant headcount reduction as the vast majority of employees will be relocated within the Company’s existing operations,” Supremex reported.
