Ball Corporation to Close Two North American Manufacturing Facilities
October 12 2006 - 9:45AM
PR Newswire (US)
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) announced today that by the end of the year
it will close two manufacturing facilities in North America as part
of the realignment of the company's Metal Food & Household
Products, Americas, segment following the acquisition earlier this
year of U.S. Can Corporation. Ball will close a leased facility in
Alliance, Ohio, which was one of 10 manufacturing locations in the
U.S. acquired from U.S. Can. The plant manufactures plastic pails,
primarily for paints and chemicals. Equipment in the facility will
be relocated to other Ball plants in Ohio and Georgia. Ball's
Canadian subsidiary will close a metal food can manufacturing plant
in Burlington, Ont., which was part of Ball's metal food can
operations prior to the acquisition. The facility produces
three-piece steel food can bodies and ends, and does metal cutting
and coating. Some equipment from the plant will be relocated to
other Ball facilities and the rest will be sold or scrapped. The
closure of the Alliance plant will be treated as an opening balance
sheet item related to the U.S. Can acquisition. Ball will record a
fourth quarter after-tax charge of approximately $25 million
related to equipment disposal and the Burlington closure. John A.
Friedery, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Ball
Packaging Products, Americas, said the Alliance and Burlington
closure costs will be cash flow neutral after tax benefits and
proceeds from the sale of fixed assets and will reduce operating
costs by $8 million annually commencing in 2007. "The opportunity
to consolidate manufacturing operations into fewer facilities is
critical to us realizing the synergies we knew were achievable
following the acquisition," Friedery said. "We are carefully
studying our entire manufacturing structure and expect there will
be other opportunities to improve efficiencies by further
realigning production capacities. We anticipate work on our
realignment plan to be completed during the fourth quarter, with
implementation continuing in 2007." Friedery said employees at the
facilities being closed will be paid severance and offered
transition services. The Alliance plant has approximately 40
employees and the Burlington plant has approximately 300 employees.
Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic
packaging products and owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Ball reported 2005 sales of $5.8 billion and employs 15,600 people.
Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking"
statements concerning future events and financial performance.
Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could
cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and
uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which
are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors
that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in
consumer and customer demand and preferences; availability and cost
of raw materials, including recent significant increases in resin,
steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such
increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability,
pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; fruit,
vegetable and fishing yields; industry productive capacity and
competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity
improvements or production cost reductions, including those
associated with our beverage can end project; the German mandatory
deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major
customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or
supplier; changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and
activities of foreign subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO
accounting. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment
include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of
government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and
technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that
might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus:
accounting changes; acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures;
integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or
laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety;
governmental investigations; technological developments and
innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other
litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected
and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement
plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting
our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits
or other effects. DATASOURCE: Ball Corporation CONTACT: Investors,
Ann T. Scott, +1-303-460-3537, ; or Media, Scott McCarty,
+1-303-460-2103, , both of Ball Corporation Web site:
http://www.ball.com/
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