Ardagh announced the closure of its facility in Houston, Texas, oriented to the beer market and the indefinite curtailment of one in Seattle, Washington, that services wine bottles customers. A total of 464 total employees will be impacted by these lay-offs.
“After reviewing current beer market conditions, we have announced the closure of our Houston, Texas, glass production facility, effective July 2024. The affected customer base will be supplied from Ardagh’s remaining glass manufacturing facilities across the U.S.,” the company said in a statement by Gina Behrman, vice president of marketing, communications and new product development at Ardagh Glass Packaging-North America. Ardagh acquired the Houston glass production site from Anheuser-Busch in 2021.
Ardagh is also laying off, at least temporarily, another 244 employees at the wine bottle manufacturing plant in Seattle. The company is indefinitely curtailing production in this facility, meaning lay-offs could exceed six months, though some of those employees “will remain actively employed for some period of time.” If market conditions change, Ardagh says it will consider restarting production at this site.
The dismissals at the wine bottle facility are expected to begin July 1, according to the notice filed on June 17. “At this time, Ardagh’s remaining U.S. production network will allow us to continue to provide our existing and prospective wine customers with high quality American-made glass packaging,” the company said in a statement.
In 2023, Ardagh closed two glass plants in North Carolina and Louisiana, which affected more than 580 workers.