U.S. Foodservice Inc. closing N.Y. plant
U.S. Foodservice Inc. is closing a plant in Glenville, N.Y., where it makes plastic products such as straws, lids and food trays, according to New York state's Department of Labor.
The plant will close by Feb. 14 and the closing means that 118 workers will lose their jobs, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification that the firm filed with the state. Officials cited economic reasons.
Neither officials from U.S. Foodservice, based in Columbia, nor local economic development officials returned telephone calls seeking comment.
U.S. Foodservice is owned by Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Royal Ahold NV. The parent firm announced Nov. 29 that it was reorganizing U.S. Foodservice into two units.
U.S. Foodservice spokesman Rob Meyne was quoted in the Dec. 7 Albany, N.Y., Times Union, saying the Glenville operation was not an optimal fit for the firm's core business, and that it plans to sell the plant.
Oxy Vinyls closing Canada PVC facility
DALLAS - You can't make PVC without VCM. That simple chemical fact is leading Oxy Vinyls LP to close its PVC plant in Scotford, Alberta, by the end of January.
The 55-employee plant is being affected by the pending closure of a nearby Dow Chemical Co. plant that supplied the Oxy site with vinyl chloride monomer. No other VCM supply is available in the area, and shipping VCM from outside the region does not make economic sense.
The Dow VCM plant will close in the first half of 2006. The 25-year-old Oxy Vinyls plant has about 300 million pounds of annual PVC capacity.
Industry contacts said the closing should have only minimal effect on the North American PVC market, since the plant represents only about 2 percent of the region's total capacity.
The closing leaves Oxy Vinyls with about 4 billion pounds of annual capacity at five locations: Deer Park and Pasadena, Texas; Louisville, Ky.; Pedricktown, N.J.; and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Dallas-based firm ranks second in North American PVC capacity, trailing only Shintech Inc. of Houston.
Bankrupt River City Plastic shuts down
THREE RIVERS, MICH. - River City Plastic Inc., an auto components injection molder with plants in Three Rivers and Vicksburg, Mich., has told its workers that it will close on Dec. 23.
Three Rivers Mayor Thomas Lowry confirmed the report, noting that the company employs about 150 workers at the two plants.
``Our first concern is the loss of jobs - it was announced two days ago. The fact is that they are losing their jobs, but they are losing them at this time of the year [before Christmas],'' Lowry said.
Calls to River City Plastic officials were not returned.
River City filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Sept. 26. According to court documents, the company's major customer is Lear Corp.
River City has ``suffered a significant downturn in its business and profitability,'' and recently lost a program when a customer took the work in-house, according to court filings.
Fagerdala relocating Illinois operations
RANTOUL, ILL. - Foam maker Fagerdala USA is closing its manufacturing operations in Rantoul, Ill., and consolidating them under one roof at a new, 200,000-square-foot plant in Mendota, Ill.
About three or four workers at Rantoul will make the transition to Mendota. The plant closing affects about 50 employees. The Mendota facility will employ more than 60 once consolidation is complete, said Gary Rodgers, Fagerdala's general manager, in a Dec. 8 telephone interview.
Fagerdala is ramping up U.S. production, Rodgers said. The company recently invested nearly $8 million to open a 107,000-square-foot plant in Marysville, Mich., where it extrudes polyethylene foam.
Fagerdala USA is a unit of Gustavsberg, Sweden-based Fagerdala World Foams.
There will be four Fagerdala plants in the United States once the Rantoul operations cease. The company operates facilities in Lompoc, Calif., and Marine City, Mich., as well.
The Mendota facility's primary function is resin production. John Ballinger, the firm's vice president, said Fagerdala is making black foam polystyrene beads that it uses in some of its processes.
