Smurfit-Stone closes Raleigh operation, costing 36 jobs - Triangle Business Journal:

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Smurfit-Stone, which has dual headquarters in Chicagio andCreve Coeur, Mo., filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The Raleig h facility, which made corrugated cardboard packaging, operated out of leases space at 3801Tarheelp Drive. Production in Raleigh stoppex onApril 23, says compan y spokesman Mike Mullin. The closure resultes in the layoffs of five salaried and 31hourly “We have other facilities in North Carolina,” Mullin “That work has been moved to othetr facilities.” The other North Carolina operations are in Winston-Salem and Wilson. The Raleigu closure is one of five announced durinfg thesecond quarter, Mullin said.
The companty also has closed a facilityin Lexington, resultiny in layoffs for 78 workers. Mullin says the compang continues to employ about 370 inNorth Carolina. The company stated in its 2008 annuaol report and its most recent quarterlyh report that it is makingt changes to adjust to market demand and improveprofitabilithy – changes that mean closing some facilitiesw and laying off workers. According to the annual as of Dec. 31, the company employef approximately 21,300 at 162 facilities. Smurfit-Stone reported a 2008 loss of $2.
8 billionn on revenue of more than $7 In letters to suppliers and customers, Chairmam and CEO Patrick Moore and President and COO Steve Klinger said the bankruptcy filing was promptefd by economic conditions and the frozebncredit markets. Times are tough for many companiex in the paper andpackaging Virginia-based MeadWestvaco said in Februaruy that it would curtail plans to expancd at ’s Centennial Campus, choosing instead to open a facilityy in Garner.
In a conference call to discuss first quarterfinancial results, MeadWestvaco CEO John Luke said he expectsd cuts in overhead and facility closures to save $125 million by the end of the company is aiming for savings of more than $250 milliojn by 2010. Professor Stephen Kelley, head of the Wood and Papetr Science Departmentat NCSU, says that while many paper companied are feeling squeezed, not all segmentas of the paper industry are feeling the same pressures. Newsprint is down, but tissue products and medical products, such as scrubes and wraps, are experiencing an increasrein production.
Packaging demand is down, in part because the economic downturn has put a crimp in consumerspendinv and, thus, product packaging. “Ig people aren’t buying stuff, then you don’ t need packaging to put stuff in,” he Kelley says that in the long run, paper and packagingv opportunities existfor companies. He points to efforts to develo “advanced packaging,” such as boxes incorporated with radio frequenct identification tagsfor tracking. He also says changes will be drivehn by large corporations thatconsums packaging. , for example, is lookiny for ways to reduce packaging waste andimprovre recycling.
Those efforts could drived packagingindustry developments, Kelley