Kimberly-Clark Corp. said Thursday that it will close its Conway manufacturing facility by 2021, ending months of uncertainty about whether the company would choose the Arkansas plant, or a similar factory in Wisconsin, for closure.
The announcement about the Conway facility, which employs 344 people, came after Wisconsin and Kimberly-Clark reached an agreement involving a $28 million incentive package.
Jamie Gates, the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce executive vice president, released a company statement at 2 p.m. Thursday, detailing the closing.
"Sadly, the news I just sent you couldn't be worse," he said, underscoring the economic blow the decision will have on the city of nearly 66,000 people.
"Today, we informed our employees at the Conway Facility that the company will close this site no later than 2021," the Kimberly-Clark statement said.
"This difficult decision was made after the company agreed to the terms of an incentive agreement through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation that will enable the company's Cold Spring facility in Wisconsin to remain open.
"We do not take these decisions lightly, and our primary focus at this time is our employees," the statement said.
The company went on to say that the decision came as part of a global restructuring announced in January to lower costs. The effort is to eliminate 5,000 to 5,500 jobs -- 12 percent to 13 percent of the company's workforce -- and close 10 plants by the end of 2020.
"Accomplishing the objectives of our global restructuring program is challenging and requires us to make tough business choices," the statement said.
Kimberly-Clark has been a part of Conway's manufacturing base for decades and a member of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce since 1970. The company said it remains committed to its other Arkansas operations, which include a manufacturing facility in Maumelle and an office in Bentonville.
Between the incentive package that Wisconsin offered Kimberly-Clark and the wage concessions to which the union at the Wisconsin plant agreed, Arkansas stood little chance of being able to keep the Conway facility open, said Mike Preston, who heads the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
"We put on a very hard press and strong sell for Arkansas," he said in an interview. "But when you look at the scale of what Wisconsin put into it, [it was] unlike anything I had ever seen for purely a retention project.
"I'm not sure what that final package ended up being for the company, but I'm pretty sure it was way more than anything we would've been able to put together."
Preston declined to disclose the amount of the state's incentive package. He said that information would be available in a few weeks.
"We have all worked very aggressively to retain the Kimberly-Clark Conway facility jobs," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday in a prepared statement. "I am disappointed for the Conway workers and families that the company made the decision to close the Conway facility. It appears the historic ties of the company with Wisconsin along with Union wage cuts and cash incentives from the state tilted the balance in favor of Wisconsin.
"The central Arkansas labor market has thousands of job openings and I am directing my Department of Workforce Services to provide maximum assistance to Kimberly-Clark employees in any needed training or job location assistance."
A multinational company based in Irving, Texas, Kimberly-Clark produces paper-based personal care products for some of the world's best known brands, including Kleenex tissues, Huggies diapers, Scott toilet paper and Kotex feminine hygiene products. Its 2017 sales totaled $18.3 billion.
Its Conway facility on a 44-acre campus off Interstate 40, once employed more than 500 people at a time when the city was far smaller.
Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said Thursday that he now has to contend with the economic fallout of the plant closure on the city and the effect it will have on his friends.
"I have a number of friends who have worked or retired from Kimberly-Clark," he said in a statement posted on social media. "For me, what this boils down to is people. I have a good friend from high school who works with me in City Hall. Their spouse lost their job today."
Castleberry said his priority will be the employees and their families.
"As a city, we will do everything we can to help the dedicated employees of Kimberly-Clark find a new place to earn a living so they can care for their families," he said. "Hopefully, other opportunities and prospects will open in the future. Conway remains a desirable place for industry. We have a tremendous workforce and we have a lot to offer as a city."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was defeated in last month's election by Democrat Tony Evers, praised the deal reached after a larger incentive package originally worth up to $100 million failed to win support in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
"If there is any talk about a legacy, I want this to be my legacy," Walker told The Associated Press.
Kimberly-Clark must retain 388 jobs through 2023 at the Cold Springs facility and invest at least $200 million at the Wisconsin plant over that time to qualify for all of the $28 million incentive package, according to published reports. Purchases by the company from Wisconsin businesses could also lead to tax credits.
Opponents cast the original $100 million incentive measure as a corporate giveaway and said the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers. But supporters said it was worth the cost to save the jobs and increased economic activity that keeping the plant open would generate.
"This is a pretty good Christmas going forward," Walker said during the announcement attended by plant workers. "We didn't just save your jobs for the short term, this is about a long-term commitment."
Information for this article was contributed by Noel Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; and by Scott Bauer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/14/2018