Clorox Co., in the midst of a reorganization, will lay off 62 employees in August at a Kingsford charcoal factory in Kentucky.
(Bloomberg) — Clorox Co., in the midst of a reorganization, will lay off 62 employees in August at a Kingsford charcoal factory in Kentucky.
Clorox has identified excess capacity within its Kingsford business, a spokesperson for the company said in an email. As a result, the consumer-products maker decided “to idle indefinitely the briquetting and packaging lines in Summer Shade, Kentucky.” The company said it will transition production to one of its four other Kingsford manufacturing facilities.
The Summer Shade plant will retain certain functions, including distribution and the charring of wood to make into charcoal. Clorox said it’s working to see if there are open positions for dismissed staff to fill in other areas. The company has another charcoal factory elsewhere in Kentucky as well as in Missouri, West Virginia and Oregon.
The company, which also owns the Burt’s Bees and Glad brands, has been reorganizing to cut costs while working to develop products more quickly and respond faster to changes in shopper preferences. In April, Clorox eliminated 200 positions, or about 4% of its non-production workforce. In May, Clorox said that Kingsford sales came in below expectations due to increased competition in the quarter ended March 31.
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