An international packaging company has announced its plans to close a manufacturing plant on Enterprise Parkway by November, eliminating as many as 175 positions.

Township Manager Rob Kagler said he does not yet know how much income tax revenue the township will lose when Graphic Packaging closes.

"The company will begin phasing out jobs in June and closing in November, so the effect will be gradual," Kagler said. "It is difficult for any community to lose 175 employees. But I don’t believe this loss will mean that we need to make changes to our budget."

"It’s always upsetting to hear about 175 people who are losing their jobs," Trustee Jim Balogh said. "And this company closing will certainly put a dent in our income tax revenue, but I don’t think it means we need to make any big changes or anything."

Graphic Packaging spokesperson Cynthia Baerman said April 6 that the Twinsburg Township plant was previously owned by Mid-America Packaging before the two companies merged late last year. Graphic Packaging already has a plant in New Philadelphia that manufactures the same kind of product as the Twinsburg facility, she said.

"So after the merger we ended up with two facilities very close together making the same thing," she said. "We are trying to consolidate our operations in New Philadelphia."

Baerman said Graphic Packaging will offer as many opportunities as possible for Twinsburg workers to transfer to the New Philadelphia plant, another Graphic facility in Solon or any of the company’s 64 locations around the world.

The plant in Twinsburg, which opened in 1995, manufactures multi-wall bags used to package products such as animal feed and garden soil.