Ball Corporation announces closure of several US plants

Ball Corporation has announced that it will cease production at several plants in the United States next year.

The firm has stated that production will cease at its plants in Birmingham, Alabama, Chatsworth, California, and Longview, Texas. Existing customers will be supplied by other Ball facilities.

Meanwhile, Ball will also begin construction on a new, state of the art beverage packaging facility in Goodyear, Arizona, which is expected to begin production in the second quarter of 2018 and will serve growing customer demand for specialty cans in the south west region of the US.

Ball Corporation beverage packaging north and central America president, Carlos Medeiros, said: “These transformational actions will optimise our plant network, realign our standard 12- ounce beverage can and end capacity, increase our manufacturing flexibility and drive efficiencies so we can better compete with other packaging substrates.”

Ball will record a total after-tax charge of approximately $22 million, primarily for employee severance, pensions and other benefits, facility shutdown costs, and asset impairment and disposal costs, for the closure of Birmingham, Chatsworth and Longview. The majority of the charge is expected to be recorded during the third quarter of 2017.

The Birmingham plant, which opened in 1952, employs 91 people and produces beverage can ends, is expected to cease production by the end of the second quarter 2018. The Chatsworth plant, which opened in 1975, employs 118 people and produces beverage cans in multiple sizes, including standard 12-ounce cans, is expected to cease production by the end of the third quarter 2018. The Longview plant, which opened in 1972, employs 100 people and produces cans in two sizes, is expected to cease production by the end of the second quarter 2018.

All closure dates are subject to customer needs.