Type
Closure
Country
Netherlands
Region
West-Nederland; Zuid-Holland; Groot-Rijnmond
Location of affected unit(s)
Schiedam
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Rubber And Plastic Products And Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products
Manufacture Of Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products
23.1 - Manufacture of glass and glass products

230 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
24 January 2017
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
31 August 2017

Description

The American manufacturer of glass packaging products O-I Manufacturing will close its plant in Schiedam (west Netherlands, part of the Rotterdam metropolitan area), resulting in 230 job cuts. Reasons given for the closing of the plant scheduled for August 2017 are the overcapacity on the glass market and high production costs related to outdated ovens at the Schiedam plant.

The second-largest Dutch trade union CNV has expressed its shock over the suddenness of the announcement and is sceptical about the argumentation behind the closure, considering that multi-million Euro investments were made as recently as 2015 to install highly advanced dust filters. Unions and management are engaged in discussions over a redundancy package. O-I (Owens Illinois) is the largest manufacturer of glass packaging products in the world, has 80 plants spread over 23 countries (including two more in the Netherlands), and employs some 27,000 employees worldwide.


Sources

  • 24 January 2017: De FinanciĆ«le Telegraaf
  • 24 January 2017: ad.nl
  • 24 January 2017: Nos.nl
  • 24 January 2017: nrc.nl

Citation

Eurofound (2017), O-I Manufacturing, Closure in Netherlands, factsheet number 90051, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/90051.