Union Gap, Wash.-based Thermoforming Systems LLC will lay off 66 employees starting March 31 as part of a manufacturing shuffle with relocation options.
The manufacturer of thermoforming equipment for the North American food packaging sector notified state officials about the permanent job losses on Jan. 31 by filing a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notice (WARN) with the state's Economic Security Department.
"We are moving the production of thermoforming products from Union Gap, Wash., to our Pawcatuck, Conn., operations site," Dan Guthrie, chief operating officer and president of the packaging business, said in an email. "...we are offering relocation to interested employees."
The Union Gap facility is not closing, he added.
"We are retaining engineering, sales, and support personnel in the Union Gap area," Guthrie said.
The company was acquired in 2018 by Pawcatuck-based Davis-Standard LLC, which manufactures extrusion and converting equipment, as a complement to its sheet extrusion business
At the time, TSL employed about 100 people at the 70,000-square-foot Union Gap facility that had been expanded by 20,000 square feet in 2016 as part of a $1.5 million investment.
Davis-Standard remains in the thermoforming equipment business, Guthrie added.
TSL makes machines to produce plastic cups, hot or cold lids, food containers, and ventilated or tamper-evident products.