Commercial Plastics Closing Lakeville Plant; 122 Employees to Lose Jobs
Illinois-based Commercial Plastics Co. notified the state of Minnesota on Wednesday that it will close its Lakeville manufacturing facility at the end of April. The move means 122 Commercial Plastics employees are losing their jobs.
The company’s letter to the state noted, “The entire facility will be closed and all employees at the facility will be impacted. This closure is expected to be permanent. Employees will be separated on a rolling basis beginning in mid-February 2021.”
Employees were notified of the decision on December 16. None of the employees are represented by a union.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” said Lakeville Mayor Doug Anderson. “The positive side is that we have a robust industrial park and there are companies that are growing and expanding. We’re sad to see them go but there will be new opportunities coming down the pike.”
Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties is currently developing a massive, 750,000-square-foot fulfillment center for Amazon in Lakeville.
A representative of Commercial Plastics could not be reached for comment. The company’s web site indicates that it currently has approximately 700 employees.
The move to shut down the Lakeville facility follows Commercial Plastics’ acquisition of Lakeville-based Imperial Plastics Inc. in April 2020. The deal gave Commercial Plastics two locations in Minnesota: Lakeville and Mora. Imperial Plastics had previously acquired Mora-based Engineered Polymers Corp. in 2014.
A report at the time of the deal from the Kanabec County Times indicated that the Imperial Plastics operation is the fourth largest employer in Mora with approximately 200 employees.
Commercial Plastics CEO Matt O’Connor told the newspaper, “We’re staying in Mora.”
The Mora facility is 425,000 square feet; much larger than the 75,000-square-foot facility in Lakeville.
