West closing Pennsylvania moulding plant, downsizing in UK

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Lionville, Pennsylvania -- West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. said it will lay off 170 workers and close its plant in Montgomery, Pennsylvania., that makes moulded plastic components such as stoppers and vials for injectable drugs.

The Lionville-based company said the move will improve the efficiency of the company's manufacturing operations.

The shutdown will begin in January and continue into the third quarter of 2011 as production is transferred to other plants in the West system, mostly in the US, the company said.

West also plans to downsize its plant in St. Austell, England, over the next two years, eliminating 150 of the nearly 200 full-time jobs at that location.

The company expects a “significant portion” of the St. Austell plant's business to go away when a current customer contract expires late in 2012. That plant makes moulded rubber components for disposable medical devices, as well as rubber and plastic components used in pharmaceutical packaging.

West also said it was restructuring administrative, engineering and other operating positions to eliminate about 50 positions at other company locations, with most of those job reductions taking place through attrition and early retirement wherever possible.

West expects to realise about $6 million in savings from the restructuring in 2011, and annual savings of $12 million starting in 2013. The charges against earnings from the restructuring will range from $18 million and $21 million, with roughly two-thirds of that amount occurring in the fourth quarter of 2010, the company said.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)

Press release from West Pharmaceutical