This news stinks for California, but it's sweet for North Carolina.
Unilever announced late Thursday that it will close a manufacturing plant outside Los Angeles, and shift production to facilities in Raeford, N.C., and Jefferson City, Mo. The factories make anti-perspirants and deodorants for Unilever brands such as Axe, Dove, Degree and Suave.
The factory closure in California will cost 61 employees their jobs. As production is shifted next year, it has not yet been determined if it will mean additional jobs at the other facilities, said Unilever spokesman Dean Mastrojohn.
But additional production might mean more job security at the Raeford plant, which opened in 1968 and now employs about 280 people. That plant, with two buildings totaling about 550,000 square feet, is located about 90 miles southeast of Raleigh. It also makes shampoos under Unilever brands.
"An extensive and careful analysis has shown that greater efficiencies can be achieved by shifting production," Unilever supply leader Dennis Myers said in a prepared statement.
It's the second recent decision by a corporation to move production to North Carolina from California, and another bright spot for this state's struggling manufacturing sector.
In June, Ethan Allen Interiors announced plans to close a factory in Chino, Calif., and shift some upholstery manufacturing to a factory in Maiden, N.C. That expansion is expected to add about 300 jobs in Maiden during the next three years.
Ethan Allen was lured to Maiden partly by the promise of a $109,000 grant from the state. The company's Maiden plant already employed more than 500 people.
Not all the news on the state's manufacturing front is bright.
Volvo Construction Equipment announced Friday morning that it will shut an Asheville factory that makes construction equipment and shift production to facilities in Sweden, South Korea and Pennsylvania. The move will affect 228 workers in Asheville. A small number of those employees will be offered jobs in Pennsylvania, Volvo reported.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or 
