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Management Side
LSC Communications cuts 140 jobs amid Salem, Virginia facility closure

SALEM, Va. (From news reports) -- A Roanoke County printing company will close in July and lay off 140 workers, the company told local officials this week.

LSC Communications, formerly known as RR Donnelley & Sons, will start closing its book-printing plant in the county's ValleyTech Park on July 23, according to a letter sent to Salem Mayor Randy Foley. The facility is in Roanoke County, but Jill Loope, the county's economic development director, said she believed the notice was sent to the wrong person because the company has a Salem mailing address.

The letter says the Chicago-based company will close the facility "due to changing market conditions."

"At this time, the Company anticipates that employees will be permanently separated from employment with the Company during a 14-day period commencing on July 23, 2017," the letter says.

Loope said the county has engaged a regional rapid response team to help employees find new work, including getting training or education. She said the county also intends to work with company officials to put the 278,000-square-foot building on the market.

"It's unfortunate that the downturn in the market for commercial printing has resulted in this action," she said. "Our concern is for the affected employees and our goal is to assist them with identifying new employment opportunities."

The company, which was then known as RR Donnelley, came to the Roanoke Valley in 1997. Last year, Donnelley spun off its publishing and print services operations into the standalone LSC Communications. LSC earlier this month reported that first quarter net sales were down 6.7 percent from the prior year, $821 million vs. $880 million. The company reported a net loss of $1 million for the quarter, compared to a net profit of $31 million the previous year. First quarter 2017 results include $17 million of interest expense related to the October separation from RR Donnelley.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people employed in commercial printing nationwide declined almost 10 percent between 2010 and 2015, from 466,716 to 421,240 people. The number of establishments in the commercial printing industry declined by about 11 percent over the same peroid, from 27,038 to 24,090.


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