KDC/One to close Lynchburg facility at end of 2023

The Lynchburg facility of KDC/One, a global manufacturer of personal beauty and home care items, will close in about 18 months at the end of 2023.

Michael Salzillo, vice president of communications, said the closure of the site, at 1000 Robins Road, will be a staged process that will see operations slow as production gradually is shifted to other locations.

“In the normal course of business, we conduct regular strategic reviews of our operations across the network,” he said Wednesday. “During our recent review and analysis, it became clear that we needed to make the difficult business decision to wind down operations in KDC/One Lynchburg, and complete a full shutdown of the site in late 2023.”

KDC/One took over the 31,000-square-foot Tri Tech Laboratories building in 2007.

The facility has between 650 and 675 full-time and part-time employees, who were told of the news a few weeks ago, Salzillo said.

“We have a pretty comprehensive program in place for the employees. They’re our number one priority in all this,” he said.

Salzillo said the company, which has 39 sites around the world, is focused on innovation and is a contract manufacturer for many of its customers.

He said there wasn’t one particular factor behind the closure; it was just in the normal course of business to make this decision.

“We do these strategic reviews for all other sites, and we just measure production capabilities and it became clear that it was just no longer competitive in the marketplace and that’s why we made the decision to shut down,” he said.

The company still will be conducting business over the next 18 months but there is an incentivization plan to ensure that employees are retained.

“There’s different bonus structures for retention and we’re also implementing programs to help build skills and training and placement services to ensure that people are ready to take the next step,” he said, adding the company has severance programs for all employees and is engaging city and state resources to help employees.

He said the company wanted to give employees as much notice as possible and is doing everything it can to make sure employees are prepared for the next steps in their careers.

“We want to make sure that we do this in the most respectful way possible,” he said.

Traci Blido, executive director of Virginia Career Works, said the organization is working closely with the company, along with state and regional partners such as the Virginia Employment Commission, Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance and its own career navigators to assist employees when they gradually transition into new employment in the region.

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