Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
DS Smith Turpak Obaly, part of the British packaging group DS Smith, is considering shutting down its historic manufacturing plant in Martin, a move that could affect roughly 200 employees. A final decision is expected by the end of 2025 following internal evaluations and consultations.
The Martin site—operating for more than 120 years and rooted in the legacy of Tur ianske papierne and later Duropack Turpak Obaly—produces corrugated cardboard packaging and display units. Current employment levels are estimated at 200–250 workers, making it one of several Slovak DS Smith operations alongside plants in Rož ava, Galanta and Ilava.
Company representatives attribute the proposed closure to a strategic review of DS Smith’s Slovak and European activities aimed at optimising production capacity, improving resource efficiency and responding to challenging market conditions. According to the assessment, the Martin facility has not met performance expectations within the wider group for some time.
A formal consultation process with employees and trade unions is currently underway. The local labour office has not yet received an official notification of collective redundancies, although scenarios in which most of the plant’s workforce could lose their jobs are considered realistic.
If confirmed, the shutdown would be another significant blow to the Turiec region, which has already been hit in 2025 by the closure of Ecco Slovakia—resulting in approximately 650 job losses—and restructuring at the Neografia printing house. These events have pushed unemployment in the district upward and intensified concerns about the long-term departure of industrial employers from the area.
UPDATE (17 August 2026): The company has reversed its earlier closure plan. The Martin plant will remain operational and will be gradually transformed into a comprehensive service centre, serving as a hub for DS Smith's manufacturing and service activities in Slovakia. The site currently employs just over 190 people; following the transformation, roughly one-third of the workforce (approximately 60-65 employees) is expected to lose their jobs – a considerably smaller impact than the 200-250 job losses originally announced. Employees will continue under current conditions until September 2026, when the new operating model takes effect.
As part of the change, activities from the company's smaller sites in Galanta and Ilava (10-15 employees each) will be relocated to Martin by the end of 2026, while sales support will be handled from Rožňava. According to the trade union chairman, the outcome is significantly more favourable than initially feared, following a change in the company's senior leadership.
Eurofound (2025), DS Smith Turpak Obaly, Internal restructuring in Slovakia, factsheet number 203809, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/203809.
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