Ball to close two can packaging manufacturing plants

Approximately 405 employees will be displaced when Ball Corporation closes two aerosol can packaging manufacturing operations in California and Georgia.

Ball Corporation announces it plans to close two aerosol container packaging manufacturing plants in the United States and will exit the custom and decorative tinplate can business as part of a restructuring of the company's metal food and household products packaging division, Americas.

Ball plans to close aerosol can packaging manufacturing plants in Commerce, California, and Tallapoosa, Georgia, acquired in 2006 from U.S. Can Corporation. The company will relocate all related aerosol container manufacturing equipment into existing metal food container facilities. Ball makes custom and decorative tinplate cans in its Baltimore plant, and intends to sell that facility.

The company will record a largely noncash, after-tax charge of approximately $26 million in the fourth quarter of 2007 related to the plant closures and equipment relocation. When completed in 2009, the actions are expected to yield annualized cost savings in excess of $15 million.

"Closing these aerosol facilities removes significant capacity from the business and, coupled with other changes within our manufacturing operations, will allow us to supply our customers from a consolidated asset base," said R. David Hoover, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The custom and decorative tinplate can business in Baltimore, with its small production runs and wide range of smaller customers, is not a good long-term fit for Ball. It is a profitable business that we believe would be better off as a stand-alone company or as part of a company that specializes in those products."

The two plant closures will result in a net reduction in the packaging manufacturing capacity of 10 production lines, including the relocation of two high-speed aerosol lines into existing Ball facilities. The Commerce plant employs approximately 125 people and the Tallapoosa plant employs approximately 280 people.

"We are not satisfied with the overall performance of Ball's metal food and household products packaging division, Americas," Hoover said. "While plant closures are difficult, we have an obligation to our shareholders to improve our performance. These actions are necessary to help us do so, and we continue to review our worldwide operations to determine additional steps we can take to grow our business and become even more efficient."

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government.

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