Berry Global Announces Yet More Plant Closures

Berry Global CEO Tom Salmon announced during the company’s Q3 earnings webcast this week that the packaging giant would be shutting down 20 facilities, reports sister brand Powder & Bulk Solids. That’s five more than were mentioned in the Q2 earnings call in May.

The company is not revealing the plant locations at the present time. When PlasticsToday asked Berry Global about that, Marketing Communications Manager Amy Waterman responded that the company is unable to release the list of facilities, adding that “our divisions continually review our overall manufacturing footprint to ensure efficient service to our customers.”

Writing for Powder & Bulk Solids, Kristen Kazarian did note that one recent closure happened in Scotland. Berry BPI, a division of Berry Global, announced that its plant in Greenrock, Renfrewshire, shut down as a result of a reduction in demand from customers in the healthcare, construction, and industrial packaging markets, as reported by Scottish media outlet The National.

During the Q3 earnings call, Salmon said, “We’re going to be in a position in 2024 where we see growth in the general market environments improve, and we’re going to benefit from having executed against 20 facilities that have been shut down... it's exciting going forward with an optimized footprint and lower cost structure that will benefit the bottom line, as well."

Salmon, incidentally, will retire from the company effective Dec. 31, 2023.

Kazarian notes in her article that the Berry Global website has already changed the number of facilities from “300 plants around the world” to “more than 265 plants.” The math is a bit squishy, but that comes out to a reduction of around 30 facilities. Should we be expecting further plant closures in the months ahead?