Mayr-Melnhof Packaging shuts UK factory

Mayr-Melnhof (MM) Packaging has announced the closure of its folding carton production facility in Bootle, near Liverpool in the north-west of the UK.
 
The facility stopped production in February when management enforced a staff lock-out in response to strikes over the handling of a number of redundancies planned for the business. There had been redundancies in 2008, 2010 and early 2012. The latest headcount at the facility was 109.

'Customers will not be affected by the closure as they are already being supplied through the company's production network elsewhere in Europe'

 
MM Packaging is the packaging division of MM Group, and is a European market leader in folding cartons. It has facilities in Austria, Germany, France, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as Chile, Tunisia, Iran, Jordan and Malaysia.

A statement from MM Packaging cited ongoing economic competitiveness, recent market developments and changing customer requirements as reasons why it had taken the decision to close the facility. The statement reads: ‘In recent years, the team in Liverpool has worked hard to improve the plant’s competitiveness, in order to keep production at the site. However, the economic situation, latest market developments and the demands of MM Packaging’s customers have finally led to this difficult decision.’
 
MM Packaging added that customers will not be affected by the closure as they are already being supplied through the company's production network elsewhere in Europe.