Sales Jobs in Rhode Island Moved to NC
Posted on April 19, 2010
Clariant Corp., a pigment plant, has announced that they are relocating sales and technical jobs in Rhode Island to its North American headquarters in Charlotte by the end of the third quarter.
According to PlasticsNews.com, Coventry was a pigments plant until it was shut at the end of 2008. Remaining staff there supported Clairants pigments and additives businesses.
About 30 jobs in Rhode Island are affected. Coventry workers will be offered transfers to Charlotte. In total, about 50 now work in Coventry.
We concluded that consolidating these activities in Charlotte alongside comparable positions that support our businesses in North America will allow us to achieve significant efficiency and cost synergies while reducing our regions structural complexity, noted Kenneth Golder, head of Clariants North American region, in a news release.
North Carolina offers a favorable business environment that is taking an increasingly progressive approach on matters ranging from workforce development and taxes to transportation and energy, Golder elaborated in a separate news release..
Clariant will invest about $2.5 million in Charlotte as a result of the move. The new jobs there will carry an average annual wage of $85,796, 76 percent higher than the regional average. The move was partly aided by a $55,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.
Clariant Corp. has a plastics related operation in North Carolina. In Mooresville it runs a masterbatch plant it acquired as part of its purchase of Rite Sysems Inc. and Ricon Colors Inc. in 2008.
Coventrys pigment production was relocated to Germany and Mexico. The site is undergoing decommissioning and environmental cleanup so that it may be redeveloped. Part of it has been sold to International Process Plants of Hamilton, N.J. Clariant acquired the Coventry operation from American Hoechst in 1997.