Georgia-Pacific Corp. will close its Alpha Plastics film and sheet subsidiary in Hamlet, N.C., by the end of November.
Kelly Ferguson, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific, said the parent company is working with 32 employees to provide counseling and to help them find new jobs
He blamed the closing on poor market conditions and low customer demand that did not support the plant's capacity.
“Our commitment is to continue ... working with our customers as they look for new suppliers,” Ferguson said in a phone interview.
“The decision to close [Hamlet] has nothing to do with the performance of the employees; they operated it safely and effectively for years.”
The Hamlet facility extruded polyethylene sheet and barrier film for packaging of consumer products, food, textiles, and medical devices.
Alpha Plastics ran seven extrusion lines and reported 2007 sales of $19 million in 2008, the last year in which it responded to Plastics News' annual industry survey.
Ferguson said Georgia-Pacific is reducing its plastics footprint as it concentrates on its core paper and fiber products businesses. He said no decision had been reached on the final disposition of the plant, which opened in 1972, or its assets.
Georgia-Pacific is a division of Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries Inc., a privately owned energy conglomerate with significant industrial holdings.
In North Carolina, Georgia-Pacific employs 1,500 at 10 plants, including a thermoset resins and formaldehyde manufacturing site in Conway, N.C. The company employs 40,000 at 300 facilities worldwide.