Ball Corporation to cease production at German can plant

Ball Corporation will cease production at its facility in Recklinghausen, western Germany at the end of July.

The packager will consolidate its European business amid harsh trading conditions, and will share the workload out between its other facilities on the continent.

They include a nearby beverage can factory owned by Ball in Gelsenkirchen, which will be the only remaining Ball site in all of Germany.

Its European beverage can business also includes additional plants Widnau in northeastern Switzerland; Ludesch in Austria; and Ejpovice in the Czech Republic. The company also owns a European beverage sales office in Oss, in the Netherlands.

Ball Beverage Packaging Europe president Colin Gillis said: “Given the regional market environment, we need to ensure that we remain cost-competitive for the long-term. While closing plants is always difficult, our goal is safeguarding the long-term success of the business for all of our stakeholders, including our 3,900 employees in Europe.”

The site in Recklinghausen is used to produce beverage cans and can ends, and employs approximately 360 people.

Ball said that the plant would only close after talks had been undertaken with the employees’ representative body.

It comes less than a year after the US-based company completed its long-awaited $6.1 billion acquisition of rival can maker Rexam.

As part of the deal, Ball and Rexam were forced to divest select metal beverage can assets, support locations and functions in Europe, Brazil and the United States to Ardagh Group for approximately $3.42 billion.