CALIFORNIA (From news reports) -- Smurfit Westrock plans to permanently close a corrugated sheet and box facility in California, and 141 employees will be affected, according to a company worker adjustment and retraining notification letter the state.

The plant in City of Industry, California, is expected to close on Dec. 14, according to the WARN letter. All employees will be terminated at that time, and there are no bumping rights. The hourly employees are represented by the District Council 2 union.

CEO Tony Smurfit referenced the closure during the company's third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 29. He noted it was one of nine the company has undertaken since Smurfit Kappa acquired WestRock in July 2024 as part of footprint and headcount optimization efforts. The company will continue "closing down inefficient or loss-making operations, including the recently announced closure of a corrugated facility in California," he said.

In total, the company has lost 4,500 people since the business combination, Smurfit said. He also noted approximately 500,000 tons of capacity closures in containerboard and consumer board grades.

Smurfit Westrock announced in August that it would close a corrugated packaging facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the closure and layoffs of 100 employees scheduled for this month. Previously, in April, the company announced that it would close a corrugated products plant in Portland, Oregon. That same month it also made an announcement about four facility closures to collectively affect 650 employees: a coated recycled board mill in St. Paul, Minnesota; a containerboard mill in Forney, Texas; and two converting facilities in Germany.

Conversely, the company recently disclosed that it would invest nearly $19.3 million to expand its corrugated operations making cases, boxes and trays in Saltillo, Mississippi, by October 2026.