British packaging manufacturer Cepac is planning to close its Darlington site. The company produces small corrugated trays there, which are marketed under the Flutepac brand. Up to 63 jobs could be affected by the planned closure.
Cepac cites high financial losses at the site as the reason. Despite investments in new machinery, demand for the fibre-based corrugated trays has grown more slowly than expected. As a result, the originally planned growth of the Flutepac portfolio failed to materialise.
Production could be completely halted
On 9 September, Cepac stated that it had begun a 30-day consultation period with employee representatives regarding potential redundancies. A final decision on the closure has therefore not yet been made. Should the plan go ahead, all production in Darlington would cease.
„It is regrettable that we have had to make this announcement. Despite significant investment in new plant, the planned accelerated growth of the Flutepac portfolio of fibre-based corrugated trays has failed to materialise due to a significantly slower market development than expected, says Steve Moss, Group Managing Director of Cepac.
In the event of a closure, the company intends to support affected employees in finding jobs at other Cepac sites or with companies in the region.
Source: Cepac
