Sixty workers are losing their jobs at a plastic bag plant in Alabama after Berry Global Group Inc. decided to shutter the site due to declining demand.
Berry operates two facilities adjacent to one another in Montgomery and is targeting plant No. 2 for closure in late September.
"The final day of operation at Berry's Montgomery Plant 2 will be Sept. 27, 2019. This closing will impact approximately 60 of Berry's 235 employees," Berry said in a statement.
An announcement to close the plant was made July 24, which adheres to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. WARN requires a 60-day notice for significant layoffs and plant closings.
Berry acquired the plant as part of its purchase of AEP Industries Inc. in 2016. Plant No. 2 made "food bags such as those that could be used for sandwiches," the company said in an email interview.
While the company is stopping production of the polyethylene food bags, work will continue at the No. 1 plant, which makes retail and institutional waste bags, the company said.
The AEP deal brought a network of 14 flexible plastic packaging plants in the United States and Canada making film for the consumer, industrial and agricultural markets to Berry's portfolio while adding $1.1 million in annual sales.
That acquisition is just one in a handful of major deals the company has made in recent years to dramatically increase its product mix beyond rigid containers. Berry now has nearly 300 manufacturing sites and annual sales of about $13 billion. That's up from just $5 billion in fiscal year 2014.
Berry said it will work with employees who are losing their jobs to find work at other company sites or elsewhere.