R J Reynolds to close two plants, expand smokeless tobacco operations
29 May 2010
R J Reynolds, the second largest tobacco company in the US after Altria Group, said yesterday that it will close two plants and expand its smokeless-tobacco operations in light of the declining US cigarette industry and growth in smokeless tobacco.
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based tobacco company founded by Richard Joshua Reynolds in 1874, will be closing its Whitaker Park cigarette plant in Winston-Salem and shift its 580 employees to its $133 million latest and largest cigarette plant in Tobaccoville in North Carolina beginning this summer.
It will also close its 40-year old cigarette manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico located in the southeastern town of Yabucoa by the end of August 2010 and about 60 jobs will be eliminated.
The Puerto Rico production will also be shifted to Tobaccoville but said that its distribution operations in Puerto Rico will not be affected by the plant closure.
The maker of Camel, Pall Mall and Winston cigarettes will expand its smokeless-tobacco processing and manufacturing capacity in Memphis and Clarksville, Tennessee.
Its American Snuff Co unit will be expanding its manufacturing operations from a facility acquired last year. Construction began in April, and the new facility will be fully operational in January 2012. It said that the company's current plant, built in 1904, will close in 2012.