7 January 1999: Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. of the US announced that it will close its 166-year-old glassmaking plant in Millville, Cumberland County, in March as part of a cost-cutting move, putt…
7 January 1999: Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. of the US announced that it will close its 166-year-old glassmaking plant in Millville, Cumberland County, in March as part of a cost-cutting move, putting 300 employees out of work. “It“s terrible timing to make an announcement like this,” said Joel Patrick, director of marketing and communications for the Muncie, Ind., company, noting that it comes less than two weeks before Christmas. “We know they are devastated. They are going to lose jobs.” The plant makes glass containers for beer, other types of beverages, and food. Built in 1832, it is the nation“s oldest continuously operating glass-manufacturing plant, according to company officials. But because of its age, its production costs per bottle were higher than those at the company“s 19 other manufacturing facilities nationwide, including one in Cateret, Middlesex County. The company said it had been forced to look for ways to cut costs as glass-bottle makers lost market share to plastic-bottle makers. It said that it had 800 customers and that sales were particularly weak in the Northeast. “This was a difficult decision but was necessary, as it is no longer feasible, for economic and competitive reasons, to continue to operate the plant,” said Gilles Michel, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. Company officials flew in from Indiana to break the news to various shifts of workers on Monday and yesterday. The workers were told that there were limited openings at the company“s other facilities for those interested in moving.