Reynolds Packaging plans to lay off 158

Reynolds Packaging Group has notified the state of job cuts at one of its Richmond-area plants.

The company expects to lay off 158 employees at its plant at 2001 Reymet Road in August, according to a notice filed with the state's Dislocated Worker Unit. The job cuts will be effective Aug. 1, according to the notice, which was dated May 29 but posted on a state Web site yesterday.

Reynolds, which makes packaging for consumer products, already has announced significant cuts in its local work force since a private investment firm acquired the company early last year. In September, the company said it would close its aluminum foil plants in Richmond and cut 490 jobs locally by midyear of this year.

A human resources officer with Reynolds Packaging referred questions to a company media line. A spokeswoman for the company reached yesterday afternoon said she had no immediate additional information.

The Reymet Road plant has about 325 employees, according to a Chesterfield County Industrial Business Directory. Reynolds Packaging Group reported that it had about 1,300 full-time equivalent employees in the Richmond area as of Jan. 1.

Karen Aylward, Chesterfield County's development manager for existing, small and minority business, said yesterday that county officials were notified earlier this year that the company was considering eliminating a product line at the plant, but the company was uncertain of the timing and size of resulting job reductions.

"We are aware of the [job cut] notice, and we have offered our assistance," she said. "We know they will be accessing all the support programs through the Virginia Employment Commission."

The local manufacturing operations were part of Henrico County-based Reynolds Metals Co. until 2000, when the company was acquired Pittsburgh-based aluminum company Alcoa Inc. In 2008, Alcoa sold the Richmond-based businesses for $2.7 billion to Rank Group Ltd., a private investment firm based in New Zealand, which then renamed the businesses Reynolds Packaging Group.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .