MeadWestvaco Corp. announced a series of broad actions that will address the current economic challenges, and also enable the company to capture the highest-value opportunities in targeted global packaging end markets. These actions include further reducing corporate and business unit overhead expenses, generating $100 million in cost savings in 2009, and closing or restructuring 12-14 manufacturing locations, creating a savings of $25 million, for a total of $125 million in pre-tax savings during the year. This will result in the elimination of approximately 2,000 positions, or 10 percent of MWV’s global workforce, by year end with approximately 800 of the reductions expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.
The manufacturing-related reductions will include savings from facility restructuring and closures, including the previously announced closure of packaging converting operations in Grover, North Carolina; and in Drunen and Uden, The Netherlands.