Gillette's Devens plant closing, 215 Boston jobs cut

Procter & Gamble Co. said today that it will close the second of its two Gillette packaging plants in Devens by the end of 2010 and trim 215 jobs at its manufacturing plant in South Boston.

The Devens facility -- which packages razors and other hygiene products -- uses about 400 independent contractors daily, but temporary help sometimes boosts that to 800. P&G contracts the jobs through a third party employer, SONOCO.

The job cuts at South Boston represents about 9 percent of the 2,400 Massachusetts workers employed by P&G. Fifty to 60 employees will be transferred to a P&G plant in Andover, but most of the operations are being moved to Mexico and Poland.

The Andover plant, which manufactures aerosols and shave care products, will add packing and warehousing operations once the second Devens factory closes.

In 2006, the company closed its first Gillette factory in Devens, a year after it bought the razor company for $53 billion. The plants at Devens, formerly a military base, were criticized by labor groups that alleged the company used temporary workers instead of making permanent hires.

"All of these moves are critical to the future success of the blades and razor business," said Kelly Vanasse, a P&G spokeswoman. "These changes make us able to better serve the needs of the regions where these products are going to be sold and also bring some cost efficiencies."

Vanasse said the job cuts in South Boston are the result of shifting the manufacturing of its older shaving systems -- like Mach3 and some Venus products -- to P&G sites in Poland and a newly built facility in Mexico. The South Boston site will serve as the home for new shaving technologies, like Fusion and Venus Embrace, she said.

The Gillette facility in Mexico will take over the majority of the packaging and warehouse operations from the Devens plant . The remaining operations will be shifted to Mexico in 2010, when P&G's lease expires in Devens and the plant will officially be closed, the company said.

(By Angel Jennings, Globe correspondent, and Jenn Abelson, Globe staff)