DSM Pharmaceuticals, Pitt County's largest manufacturing employer with about 1,200 workers on Wednesday announced that it will be reorganizing operations with a target of reducing its work force by 15 percent to 20 percent, or as many as 240 positions.
A news release said the decision is due to demand changes for services at the Greenville facility and reorganization is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
DSM Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, which provides custom manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries in the areas of steriles, orals and topicals, including dose form manufacturing, scheduled drugs, clinical manufacturing, fill finish manufacturing, and lypholization services.
"The decisions concerning staff redeployment and potential reductions in Greenville will be difficult but necessary as we align the company's cost structure with the current demand," Bob Hartmayer, president of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, said in the news release.
"We remain committed to our employees and the Greenville community, and greatly appreciate the significant contributions of the employees who will be affected by this decision."
When employees were summoned to a mandatory meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Andy Varnell knew the news couldn't be good. Experience told him that.
"We were all pretty sure it wasn't positive," said Varnell, a lab group leader who has worked at the site since 1989 and seen the change from Burroughs-Wellcome to Glaxo-Wellcome to Catalytica to DSM.
The proposed process under consideration at DSM will include three elements:
Possible employment with DSM Dyneema on the same Greenville campus. DSM Dyneema is the inventor and manufacturer of Dyneema, touted as the world's strongest fiber and a component used in: ropes, cables and nets in the fishing, shipping and offshore industries; safety gloves for the metalworking industry; and in fine yarns for applications in sporting goods and medical sector. Dyneema also is used in bullet-resistant armor and clothing for police and military personnel. It is produced in Greenville and Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Voluntary severance packages until Dec. 1;
Involuntary severance packages, if necessary.
Wanda Yuhas, executive director of the Pitt County Development Commission, said DSM's decision doesn't appear to be a reaction to possible recession but a plan for dealing with changes within the pharmaceuticals industry.
"Is there anything to panic about? No," she said. "I think the DSM folks are handling everything in a very positive, professional fashion, and there isn't anything to really say beyond that.
"Pitt County is a community where some companies are reducing jobs while others are adding on jobs," she said. "We look at our overall job growth and job investment, and we're still in the positive. I think the important thing is for people to not jump to a conclusion based on fragments of information.
"DSM and DSM Dyneema continue to be good corporate citizens and are behaving in a proactive manner," she said.
Greenville City Manager Wayne Bowers said any job losses will affect the local economy.
"I think any restructuring that results in the loss of jobs is a negative for a community, but DSM has been a good corporate citizen and will try to minimize the impact," Bowers said. "For those people who might be involved, it is certainly an unfortunate situation. Any time you lose jobs it has an impact on the economy."
For Varnell and many of his co-workers, it puts the future in doubt.
He said although the news was difficult to hear, it wasn't surprising.
"We didn't know how it was going to be presented or the numbers or anything like that," he said.
"We knew based on the workload and the contracts that have been taken out there, we knew something had to be done," Varnell said.
"They just went over the outlook for the next few years. ... We've had a big dip due to the effects in the big pharmaceutical companies. The competition from generic companies has forced them to react, which trickles down to us.
"To keep a profit for the next few years they had to do something at DSM." Despite these jobs lost, more are coming to the East in the next few months. Keep in mind that because of ECU and the college town atmosphere, there is a constant need for service industries and Greenville proves to be growing extensively. For more information, please visit the #1 site for local business information and real estate at www.ColdwellBankerGreenvilleNC.com
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