The Smurfit Westrock packaging facility in northeast Cedar Rapids will be closing its doors in early October, according to a notice posted this week to the Iowa Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act website.
According to the notification, dated Aug. 5, 100 workers at the facility will lose their jobs effective Oct. 4.
“As part of ongoing optimization, Smurfit Westrock will close operations at its corrugated container plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” said Robby Johnson, the company’s director of North American external communications. “Production at the plant will be moved to other facilities within the Smurfit Westrock network.
Closing activities at the plant will will be complete by mid-October, Mr. Johnson said.
He also noted that outplacement assistance will be available to impacted employees, and that eligible employees may apply for open positions at other Smurfit Westrock facilities.
According to public records, the Cedar Rapids plant, at 1601 Blairs Ferry Road NE, was originally built in 1956 and operated for many years under the ownership of Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging.
Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corp. acquired Longview Fibre, including its Cedar Rapids plant, in 2013, according to The Gazette.
In 2018, Westrock Co. acquired Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corp., inheriting the Cedar Rapids plant.
And in July 2024, WestRock merged with Smurfit Kappa to form Smurfit Westrock, a global sustainable packaging firm, and the Cedar Rapids facility was renamed once again at that time.
According to the company’s website, Smurfit Westrock focuses on designing, manufacturing, and distributing a wide range of paper-based packaging solutions, including everything from custom and standard containers to displays and heavy-duty packaging for various industries.
Smurfit Westrock has recently reduced operations at other facilities in its network, including closing its recycled board mill in St. Paul, Minn., and discontinuing production at its containerboard mill in Forney, Texas, in April.
The company maintains facilities elsewhere in Iowa, according to Packaging Dive, including a folding carton plant in Clinton and a sheet plant in Des Moines.x
