Kimberly-Clark announced plans on Wednesday to close one factory and distribution center and either sell or close another mill in Wisconsin's Fox Valley. The moves would affect 675 employees.
The plans were revealed as part of a previously announced effort to streamline the company and reduce payroll by 10 percent, or 6,000 jobs, by 2008.
With the news delivered in Neenah, Wis., the company says it has now informed workers at 17 of the 24 plants it plans to close, sell or downsize.
Kimberly-Clark said that, by the end of 2007, it will close the Lakeview mill and distribution center in the Town of Menasha, where 510 employees make Huggies disposable diapers and Pull-Ups training pants. Work at Lakeview will be consolidated into larger plants in Beech Island, S.C.; Paris, Texas; and Ogden, Utah; all of which serve faster-growing regional populations, the company said.
Kimberly-Clark is negotiating terms of the Lakeview closing with the United Steelworkers, which represents employees there.
The company also will sell or close its non-woven products mill in Neenah by the end of 2006, affecting 165 workers who make synthetic materials used in Huggies Pull-Ups and Depend adult diapers, as well consumer products made by other companies. Work at that mill will spread to Kimberly-Clark operations in Hendersonville, N.C.; Corinth, Miss.; LaGrange, Ga.; and Lexington, N.C., all of which have more room for expansion.
