WestRock confirmed to Packaging Dive that it will close its corrugated container plant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, by June. About 75 jobs will be affected, per a Maryland workforce adjustment and retraining notification filing on April 25.
A WestRock spokesperson confirmed via email that this is part of the company’s recently announced larger consolidation effort, which executives discussed in more detail on a Thursday earnings call. A downturn in demand has accelerated some of the company’s streamlining measures aimed at reducing the number of inefficient plants and investing in others, executives said.
“We are already in the process of closing four of our less efficient converting sites across both our corrugated and consumer segments,” CEO David Sewell said on the call. “With these moves, we are consolidating our production to other more efficient facilities and improving our throughput to enable us to better serve our customers.”
The plan includes additional consolidation, but executives declined to discuss on the call which sites are being examined for closure. However, CFO Alex Pease noted that acquisitions over time have resulted in some overlapping footprints, in some cases with four to six WestRock facilities being located in a 200 mile radius. WestRock is evaluating which assets are providing returns and worth investing in, and for those that don’t meet the criteria, “we have to make the hard decisions like we made in Panama City or in North Charleston,” Sewell said.
On Tuesday, WestRock announced that it is closing its mill in North Charleston, South Carolina, by the end of August, affecting 500 jobs. The facility will close permanently after having been a mill for WestRock and its predecessors for more than eight decades.
Last year, WestRock announced mill closures in Panama City, Florida, and St. Paul, Minnesota, affecting a combined 580 employees.
“Closing facilities is never easy, and we are working closely with our employees and our customers to support them as we move forward with these plans,” Sewell said during the call.
WestRock also is looking to exit uncoated recycled paperboard production, Sewell said, as it is not a “strategic priority.” In December, WestRock closed on the sale of two URB plants — one in Illinois and one in Indiana — to Ox Industries. WestRock also is divesting ownership of its RTS Packaging joint venture with Sonoco — the process is ongoing — and WestRock’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, mill that supplies URB to RTS Packaging is part of the transaction.
