ALPLA plant may feel ripple of Procter & Gamble layoff

An Iowa City plant that supplies plastic bottles to Procter & Gamble in Iowa City will be looking for a new customer in the wake of plans to shift production of personal care products to a much larger facility.

ALPLA employs 250 people at its 250,000-square-foot plant at 2258 Heinz Rd. The facility has been expanded several times since it opened in 2003.

Mark Dunning, ALPLA director of human resources, said employees were briefed Tuesday after Cincinnati-based P&G announced plans to let go 500 employees at its Iowa City plant and shift production of hair care and body washes by 2020 to a plant in West Virginia.

'We expect employment to remain level for at least the next two years as we continue to serve P&G's needs,” Dunning said. 'In the meantime, we are going to be placing all of our sales and business development resources toward the job of finding new opportunities for this very capable plant.

'We assured our folks of that this morning and I know they're up to it.”

The Iowa City plant is one of the Hard, Austria-based company's oldest plants in the United States. ALPLA employs more than 19,000 people at 176 production facilities in 45 countries.

Dunning said the company was not surprised by P&G's announcement.

”We know that P&G has been studying its capacity since 2013,” he said. 'P&G's relationship with us is still quite strong.

'We will keep providing bottles for the oral care products that are made in Iowa City.”