Nypro plastics plant to close, lay off 180 - Portland Business Journal:

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Nypro officials told employees last week that the compangy plans to shut down its plant at 7301 Distribution Drivdby Sept. 30, putting 180 employees out of work. The planyt makes plastic parts for theauto industry, and it simplg ran out of buyers for its said Al Cotton, a spokesman at the company's Mass., headquarters. Company officials had studied solutionz for the plant for more than a but they could not come up with a way to keep thefacilityy open, Cotton said. "We just couldn't get the businesx into it." The Louisville which Nypro has owned for about three has been in a poor financial positionj forsome time, he said.
According to a letter the company sent to the Kentucky Department forWorkforce Investment, the companyh expects to lay off the first workerw on July 28 and phase the rest out on July 29, Aug. 30 and 20. All of the workers are being offeredd some form ofseverance pay, and most of them would also receivde payoffs from the employee stock ownership Cotton said. In its annuapl report for 2007, said it is one of the country'se largest employee-owned companies, with 17,000 employees. Last year, the companh had its best net sales year with $1.17 billion. The company'sz major markets are in plasti c parts forhealth care, consumer electronics and packaging, Cottomn said.
Cotton said workers willingv to relocate might be offered jobs at one ofthe company'sw 50 other locations worldwide. But, he said, he doubtecd many would accept because thecompany doesn't have a nearby "Plastic skills are special skills," he said. "We don'ty want to pass up on talentedd people." The plant has more than 50 plastic-injection moldingg machines, which either will be movec to other facilitiesor sold, he said. The compang leased the 240,000 square-foot building, which is owned by The MeadowsEast Inc., accordin g to information on the Jefferson County Propertty Valuation Administrator's Web site. The planr was opened by D-J Inc.
, whicnh began operations in 1970 witha 27,500-squarse foot plant on South Park Road in From 1989 to 1995, the company grew to 650 employeesx from 135. In January 1989, the plant movee into its current home onDistributioh Drive. The new plant cost $6.6 million for the land, building and new The company expanded the plantby 100,000 squar feet in 1993, giving it room to operate 130 plastic-injectiohn molding machines. Also that year, D-J owners Ray his son, Harry Pelle, and Bobby Allen had enteredx a partnering agreement with and had just openes a second plant inEl Texas. At one point, the planf was a certified supplierfor 's Appliance Park.
Nypro bought a half-sharre in D-J about a decade ago, and about three yeard ago, it bought the remaining half.