By Philip Sean Curran
Staff Writer
A pharmaceutical company will close a plant it operates in Cranbury’s warehouse district in a move to consolidate its operations in Middlesex County.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc., based in India, earlier this month notified Mayor Glenn R Johnson in writing of its plans for the plant on Prospect Plains Road.
“This will be a plant closing and not a mass layoff, and the entire plant is to be closed as a result,” the Nov. 13 letter read in part. “It is expected that the plant closing will be permanent and that the first separation of employees will occur” on Jan. 31.
The decision will impact 96 jobs, according to a notice the company filed with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
In a statement, the company said it is consolidating its operations to its facility in New Brunswick.
“As part of this process the operations at Cranbury, including inventory, products, manufacturing and lab equipment, are being transferred to New Brunswick,” the statement read. “The restructuring is aimed at optimizing our manufacturing operations and improving cost efficiencies in the increasingly competitive U.S. market. We are offering full support to the employees at Cranbury and helping them with internal reallocations and outplacement services.”
As for the future of the plant in Cranbury, Johnson said he assumes the company would not want to keep it, “unless they honestly believe they’ll have some use for it in the future. At some point, I would guess they would probably put it on the market.”
Sun Pharma did not address what it would do with the building when asked this week by this newspaper.