TWO RIVERS, WI -- Thermo Fisher Scientific said it will shut down its wood plant in Two Rivers and shift its production of wood laboratory furniture to its plant in Round Rock, TX.
Company officials said the two-story facility is antiquated and that costs of labor and energy also factored into its decision relative to current tough market conditions. Concessions by the wood plant's union employees and offers from the city of Two Rivers to provide incentives for moving the plant's operations to a more modern building were not enough, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The announcement ends three months of speculation about the plant's fate following Thermo Fisher's decision ini September to close its Two Rivers steel fabrication facility. Production at that plant is being shifted to Reynosa, Mexico.
The company said it would begin winding down operations at its wood plant in early 2012, ultimately putting about 200 people out of work. The steel fabrication plant's closing impacted about 120 additional jobs in Two Rivers.
Despite ceasing manufacturing operations, the company said it would still maintain an office in Two Rivers employing about 150 non-manufacturing employees, according to the Journal Sentinel. The company has been one of the city's largest employers for more than a century.
Based in Waltham, MA, Thermo Fisher Scientific is an international manufacturer of products for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries with annual sales of $11 billion. The company employs approximately 37,000 people worldwide.
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