MeadWestvaco Corp., Stampford, CT, announced that it will close its folding carton plants in Richmond, VA, and Cleveland, TN, by the end of June. The plants convert paperboard into printed packaging for consumer products using the gravure printing process and are part of MeadWestvaco packaging business.

The decision to close these facilities is consistent with our strategy to focus on value-added packaging segments while delivering our customers the best quality, service, and value from our network of manufacturing operation," says Rita V. Foley, president of MeadWestvaco’s Consumer Packaging Group. "This decision was reached after careful consideration, and it’s important to recognize the valuable contributions the these employees made to our company for many years."

These plant closings will result in MeadWestvaco incurring a pretax charge of approximately $9 million that will be taken in the first quarter. This charge is primarily associated with employee restructuring benefits and asset writedowns.

The Richmond plant employs approximately 320 people, and the Cleveland facility employs approximately 135. MeadWestvaco’s corporate operations in Richmond will not be affected by this decision.

The Richmond gravure operations were acquired by the former Westvaco Corp. from the Virgina Folding Box Company in 1957. Westvaco began operation of the Cleveland facility in 1976. Westvaco merged with the Mead Corp. in 2002 to form MeadWestvaco Corp.