TREVOSE, PA. (Dec. 26, 10:20 a.m. ET) — Constar International LLC will close an injection molding plant and consolidate operations at a second facility in response to the end of a bottling contract business.
The closure at Jackson, Miss., will cut 40 jobs by the end of January, the Trevose-based specialty plastic packing firm said in a Dec. 21 press release. Another 40 jobs will end in Havre de Grace, Md., by the end of March.
“With a large contract to supply commodity [carbonated soft drink] products expiring at the end of 2012, we had to choose between devoting more resources to low-value-adding activity, or reducing that activity significantly and sharpening focus where we add greater value,” said CEO Andre Laus in a written statement.
Jackson has injection molding operations while Havre de Grace has both injection molding and specialty blow molding in two buildings. The operations in Maryland will be consolidated into one building as part of the restructuring.
Constar emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2011 as a private company.
As part of its announcement on the closures, the company stated it is focusing its efforts on specialty plastic packaging and “reducing its exposure” to the commodity carbonated soft drink bottling market.
“The markets we serve are rapidly changing and we must change too,” Laus said. “Many of the assets that were formerly dedicated to supply of commodity CSD product can be retooled to support our growth in specialty markets, but we will also continue to invest in new machines and technologies that position us to meet the evolving plastic packaging needs of food and beverage customers.”
