Chicago-based RR Donnelley will shut its Hickory Printing Solutions in Conover, resulting in the loss of all 82 jobs.
The layoffs will take place over a 14-day period commencing around May 19, according to paperwork filed with the state.
Hickory Printing Solutions does both web and sheet-fed printing, combined with extensive bindery services. Some of its products go to direct mail programs. The company blamed “changing market conditions” for shutting the operation, according to paperwork filed with the N.C. Department of Commerce.
The employees are not part of a union and do not have bumping rights. Positions involve employees with specialized training, from bindery operators, press operators, print production and shipping.
Company officials in Conover referred questions to the company’s headquarters in Chicago. Those officials did not return phone messages.
Because the layoffs involve more than 50 individuals, the state’s Employment Security Commission will get involved and implement an emergency reaction that will involve finding workers other options for employment or retraining, if necessary, says Scott Millar, president of Catawba County Economic Development for more than 25 years.
With low unemployment rates statewide (3.5%) and in Catawba County (3.4%), the workers should be able to find other jobs, says Millar. “It’s more of a workers’ market right now,” he says.
RR Donnelley is a global marketing and communications company with about 32,000 employees across 28 countries. It has five other locations in North Carolina.
Houston-based Consolidated Graphics had once owned Hickory Printing Solutions, which was founded in 1917. RR Donnelley acquired Consolidated Graphics for $620 million in 2013.