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A major manufacturer of glass bottles plans to
shut down its manufacturing operations and cut
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dozens of jobs at a facility in Oregon.
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Owens Brockway, a subsidiary of Ohio-based O-I
Glass Incorporated,
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operates the nearly 70-year-old glass
manufacturing and recycling plant on Portland’s
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northeast side.
The company informed state officials this week
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that it would close down the facility’s bottle
production line and lay off 90 workers in a bid
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to reduce redundancy
throughout its operations.
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The move comes just over two years after the
facility slashed what then amounted to about
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70% of its workforce over what it called a
downturn in the local wine industry.
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The facility has also run afoul of air quality
regulators in recent decades over its glass
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melting furnaces.
New pollution controllers were installed at the
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plant last summer under an agreement with
Oregon officials.
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Owens Brockway will continue to operate a
warehouse at the Portland site.
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And officials also indicated that the move is
not expected to affect glass recycling under
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Oregon’s landmark bottle bill, a recycling
refund measure dating back to the early 1970s.
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The Oregon Journalism Project reported that a
nearby facility also owned by O-I expects to
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continue to take in tens of millions of pounds
of glass from the cooperative that manages the
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bill and turn it into new bottles.
The Owens Brockway layoffs are reportedly set
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to take effect on Tuesday.
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I’m Andy Zal.
This is Manufacturing Now.