Meadwestvaco Inc., a maker of packaging, office products and schools supplies, said it plans to cut about 70 jobs from its Garden Grove plant.
The Stamford, Conn.-based company is moving its manufacturing operations to Virginia as part of a $50 million cost-cutting effort that began more than a year ago.
“The reduction in work force will allow the company to better align its manufacturing capacity with market demand and help enhance our position in a competitive marketplace,” spokeswoman Alison von Puschendorf said in an e-mail.
The manufacturing operations are set to move to Meadwestvaco’s Alexandria site. The company also said it plans to move its headquarters to Richmond.
The Garden Grove plant, which employs 116 workers in all, makes school and office supplies such as wire-bound notebooks, filler paper and envelopes.
Meadwestvaco is set to continue to make envelopes and keep distribution at the Garden Grove facility.
The company’s consumer and office products division reported third-quarter revenue of $794 million.
The company has operations in some 29 countries.
Workers now are in discussions with management to determine termination dates, von Puschendorf said.
“The company is offering transitional assistance to all affected employees,” she said.
The 218,000-square-foot plant opened in 1962 and was owned by Western Tablet & Stationery Corp.
Mead Corp. bought the papermaker in 1966.
About 100,000 square feet is dedicated to manufacturing and 118,000 square feet is warehouse space.
There are no plans to sell or close the plant, von Puschendorf said.
Meadwestvaco shuttered a plant in Buena Park in 2004.
About 135 workers lost their jobs in that plant’s closure.
Denver-based ProLogis bought the 238,000-square-foot building in Buena Park for about $20 million.
Meadwestvaco also closed its Fullerton-based Day Runner Inc. unit in early 2004, cutting about 130 jobs.
The closure of the Day Runner operation came a few months after Meadwestvaco bought the calendar maker for $43 million.
In 2002 Mead bought New York-based Westvaco Corp., a maker of paperboard and packaging.
