AGI-Shorewood today announced it is ceasing operations at its Weaverville, N.C., plant by the end of April. Company executives said the decision to close the plant was driven by the downturn in the economy and the resulting need to consolidate its North American operations.

Located at 90 Monticello Rd., the Weaverville plant prints the inserts that are found in many CDs, DVDs, computer game boxes, and other consumer products and employs approximately 70 people. While all plant team members are affected, employees may apply for and get jobs in open positions at other AGI-Shorewood locations. Meanwhile, production at the Weaverville plant will be transferred primarily to the company’s facility in Louisville, Ky.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to make and it is by no means a reflection of the hard work and commitment of our Weaverville team members,” Mark Caines, the company’s North America CEO, said. “But we can’t escape our need to manage excess capacity across the platform as a result of declining volumes in the media print market if we expect to remain a leading global specialty-packaging business.

“We understand this decision affects many team members and their families. We will assist the Weaverville team members during the closure process, including offering counseling, job placement assistance and providing severance benefits per company policy.”

The plant won a coveted STAR award from the North Carolina Dept. of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Division in 2006 for its best safety practices and was re-certified this year. The company operates another plant in North Carolina at East Flat Rock and maintains a sales office in Huntersville.

AGI-Shorewood is a specialized global packaging company that makes innovative products for the world’s premier consumer products companies. Key consumer-packaging segments it serves include entertainment and media, tobacco, beauty and personal care, cosmetics and fragrance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, golf, confectionary and specialty foods, beverages, and specialty gravure. The company employs nearly 4,000 people worldwide, operating 24 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. It maintains eight creative services offices in the US, UK, France and Australia. AGI-Shorewood also has five plastic injection-molding operations in the US, UK, Germany, and Poland.

Visit http://www.agishorewood.com for more details about AGI-Shorewood and its products and services.