Huhtamaki Americas plans to close a recently acquired injection molded packaging plant in Mount Carmel, Pa.
The plant is one of five facilities that Huhtamaki acquired last fall when it purchased Lake Forest, Ill.-based Packaging Resources Inc.
``We have been looking at how to strengthen efficiencies within total operations throughout the Americas - that's something we had embarked on when we purchased PRI,'' said Carl Walker, Huhtamaki's executive vice president of human resources.
``We've got to continue to look at getting more capacity out of our operations, as well as putting manufacturing of products in areas where we have established key skill sets,'' he said in a telephone interview from the U.S. headquarters in DeSoto, Kan. ``It wasn't just looking at one plant. We have taken a look at our entire organization; this was one of the conclusions.''
Walker added that the company also is making cuts to its paper packaging business.
The Mount Carmel plant molds lids for Haagen-Dazs ice cream products. Huhtamaki will transfer the work to plants in Phoenix and New Vienna, Ohio, by the end of the year.
About 155 employees will receive severance packages based on years of service, plus job-placement assistance, Walker said.
The closing will leave the company with 13 U.S. plants.
In another move, Huhtamaki Flexibles, a stand-alone business unit in Malvern, Pa., will become part of the company's consumer packaging business unit. No job cuts will result from that move, Walker said.