Farmingdale and Holtsville factories to close, lay off 142 

A box manufacturer and a 140-year-old maker of HVAC temperature instruments are both shuttering their Long Island operations this summer, laying off 142 employees, according to state filings.

MC Packaging Corp. of Farmingdale will be closing its doors for good as of June 30, terminating the jobs of 88 employees at the plant, according to a state WARN notice posted by the state last  week.  

Executives with MC Packaging did not respond to requests for comment on the closure.

In its filing with the state, the company said that “the current economic climate and supply chain shortages” are behind the company’s decision to permanently close.

Under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification rule, companies with at least 50 full-time employees are required to file a notice of a mass layoff or closing 90 days in advance.

Founded in 1966, MC Packaging manufactures folding cartons and boxes for other product manufacturers in the cosmetics, health and beauty, medical, food and pharmaceutical industries, according to its website.

“It’s unfortunate that a company that’s been there for 55 years all of sudden went into this situation where they’re closing the doors,” said Al Vargas, vice president of Local 381 United Steelworkers International Union AFL-CIO, the union representing MC Packaging’s staff.

Vargas said employees had been notified of the planned plant closure in advance of the state filing.

Separately, Weiss Instruments LLC, a manufacturer of temperature gauges and thermometers for the HVAC industry and other manufacturers, announced plans to close its Holtsville shop Aug. 30, laying off 54 workers. The job eliminations are scheduled to begin June 30.

Officials with Weiss declined to comment on the plant’s upcoming closure.

Weiss, a fifth-generation family-owned business, was founded in 1882, according to the company’s website.

In its state filing, Weiss said it was closing its Long Island manufacturing plant due to the sale of the business, which will be moving operations to Mount Clemens, Michigan.

The purchaser, Foundation Investment Partners of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, will relocate the work done at Weiss' Holtsville facility to Michigan-based Miljoco Instrument Corp. — another recent acquisition — Foundation said in a March 17 news release on its website.