Bemis announces further site closures as part of consolidation plans
The site in St. Louis Park will close at the end of this month with the loss of 62 jobs.
The Minneapolis plant will cease operations by the end of the year with the loss of 96 jobs.
Bemis said the closures were part of a drive to increase efficiency and the plants didn’t fit in with their future growth plans.
Not due to a lack of demand
Both the St. Louis Park and Minneapolis plants produce flexible packaging under the Curwood brand, a division of Bemis, but a spokeswoman told FoodProductionDaily.com this wasn’t the reason for the closures.
“It is not a decision based on volume or demand, it is part of our consolidation plan that we looked at last year as some products produced there are the same as other plants.
“It makes sense to move to a production site that is already the same and has the capacity.”
She said that she did not know yet where production from the closed sites will be moved to.
The plants came under Bemis’ control when the acquisition of Alcan was completed in 2010.
“The Alcan takeover included 21 facilities and there was a little bit of overlap but this move is part of our consolidation plan announced previously and we will continue to move forward.”
Worldwide closures
The company is closing close nine locations by the end of the year, in Mexico, Brazil, France and Canada, and five US sites resulting in around 500 job losses.
In a conference call discussing the firm’s Q2 results last month, Scott Ullem, chief financial officer and vice president, said: “We are executing our facility consolidation program on schedule and as planned.
“In addition, we expanded the program to include three locations outside the US and one additional location in the US with the US and now the non-US programs in progress, we do not expect any further closings in the foreseeable future.”
