AKRON—Amcor Flexibles North America is closing an Akron plant that makes labels, cutting 108 jobs.
The company has two plants that specialize in labels, and is consolidating that business into one, which is located in Edgewood, N.Y., according to Mark Hein, director of corporate communications.
Layoffs will start Jan. 24 and continue through May 31, the company said in a notice filed with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Cuts include 92 hourly and 16 salaried employees. Hourly employees are represented by the International Chemical Workers Union Council of the UFCW, Local 1033-C.
The label converting plant originally was built by Jaite Packaging in 1974. Bemis Co. Inc. acquired the facility as part of its Alcan acquisition in 2010. Amcor bought Bemis in June 2019.
"Following extensive review of the labels business—both Amcor Flexibles Akron and AF Edgewood, N.Y., are plants that do labels for packaging within Amcor Flexibles North America (AFNA)—the company is restructuring that business and consolidating from two plants to one," Hein said in an emailed response to questions from Plastics News. "Based on the consolidation, the AF Akron plant is planned for closure in March 2021."
Hein added that AFNA continues to hire at other locations, and that Akron employees interested in transferring to another facility are encouraged to apply for any open position. The closest Amcor Flexibles facility is in Fremont, Ohio, which is about 100 miles from Akron.
AFNA is No. 1 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American film & sheet manufacturers, with estimated sales of $2.8 billion. In addition to labels, Oshkosh, Wis.-based AFNA makes packaging for food, medical/pharmaceutical, household-care, electrical/electronics and personal-care products.
AFNA is a unit of Melbourne, Australia-based Amcor P.L.C., a publicly traded company that reported sales of $12.468 billion and net profit of $612 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
