Johnson Matthey exits manufacturing site in Pennsylvania, cuts 80 jobs

The ingredients manufacturer said the ex-Lonza site​ does not operate in line with its Heath Sector strategy – which focuses on complex, high, value, low volume specialty products.

Lonza exited​ the Riverside, Pennsylvania plant in 2010 to help reduce costs and transfer small-molecule production to Asia.

“In line with the strategy of our Health Sector, we have made the difficult decision to close our Riverside manufacturing plant, located in Conshohocken, PA, in the late summer/early fall of 2018,” ​a spokesperson told us.

“The Riverside facility, which manages bulk quantity manufacturing, is not equipped to handle smaller batches efficiently and economically for our customers.” ​

Consolidation​

Johnson Matthey (JM) also announced plans to consolidate operations at a facility in New Jersey, where it makes chemicals and catalysts.

“Regrettably, this closure will result in the loss of approximately 80 jobs across two sites due to the closure of the Riverside facility and consolidation of operations with our West Deptford, NJ site,” ​the spokesperson told us.

“Although around 119 employees in total will be impacted, some employees will be offered transfers to other locations during the notice period, and others may work remotely,” ​we were told.

Manufacturing​

The spokesperson told us JM does not expect any manufacturing delays.

“We have put a robust plan together in collaboration with our customers.​

“Capacity and global optimisation of our manufacturing footprint allows us to transition all manufacturing to other parts of our network,” ​we were told.

Last month, JM announced plans​ to extend its catalysts services to Japan, under a distribution agreement with DKSH.