Factory fallout: Manufacturing layoffs from Campbell’s, Merck, Stanley Black & Decker, and more

With political winds changing and global markets tightening, manufacturers are making tough decisions—and workers are feeling the impact. In this roundup, we chronicle the closures and cutbacks reverberating throughout the manufacturing sector. As uncertainty becomes the new normal, we examine how businesses and workers alike are navigating a rapidly changing industrial landscape.

Campbell’s Company announced January 29 that it would close down its plant in Hyannis, Massachusetts to consolidate its potato chip production. Ironically, the consolidation means the company’s Cape Cod brand kettle chips will no longer be produced in the state, though a company release notes that the plant already produces only 4% of all such chips. The closure will affect 49 employees; in a company release, Campbell’s said the workers would receive separation benefits, job placement support and assistance to access state assistance programs.

Hopkins Manufacturing in Miami, Oklahoma closed Friday, February 20, following a February 23 WARN notice. According to local news source KOAM, the closure comes after federal authorities charged leadership at First Brands, Hopkins Manufacturing’s parent company, with fraud. Local news site KZRG reports the factory employed more than a hundred workers producing automotive parts.

Champion Labs in Albion, Illinois, announced it would close under similar circumstances on February 23, according to local news source WFIE 14. Like Hopkins, Champion Labs was also owned by First Brands Group, LLC, and abruptly announced it would close its Albion Oil facility. According to Strauss & Borrelli PLLC, a class-action law firm investigating First Brands for possible violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act meant to notify employees about upcoming mass layoffs, the closure affected 642 workers.

Merck & Co. announced February 24 that it would lay off a total of 154 employees in the Durham, North Carolina area, including 147 at the company’s vaccine manufacturing plant. In a letter to the state, Merck said the layoffs were related to the company’s decision to stop producing Gardasil HPV vaccines there. The job cuts are expected to take effect on the first of May, the company said. The company announced in March 2025 that it would build a new vaccine manufacturing plant in Durham and hire 400 new workers there.

Stanley Black & Decker said it would close down its manufacturing site in New Britain, Connecticut, according to local news site WTNH News 8, which first reported the news February 24. Though the company has not yet filed a WARN report with the state of Connecticut, the plant reportedly employs about 300 people. A statement from the company said the single-sided tape measures have experienced a dramatic “structural decline” in demand.