Pfizer is restructuring operations at its Lincoln plant in a move that will result in the loss of 300 jobs.
That word came Thursday from the pharmaceutical maker.
The Lincoln plant, which employs about 800, will focus on the production of animal health vaccines and transfer its pharmaceutical production and packaging operations to other plants over the next few years.
Nearly half of the job losses will happen in the next four months, said Rick Saffee, director of Lincoln's operations at Pfizer. Lincoln's biological clinical operation will be consolidated with a facility in St. Louis, Saffee said.
The remaining job losses will occur over the next two to three years as the manufacture of traditional pharmaceutical products for the animal health industry are transferred to other Pfizer locations, including Kalamazoo, Michigan, Saffee said.
Employees losing their jobs in Lincoln will be able to apply for openings within the company, but not all of them will be able to transfer, said Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers.
Production of bulk biological products will continue at the Lincoln plant. A new veterinary medicine biologicals plant is under construction in Lincoln, and the plant is also in the process of expanding its freeze-drying capacity. Over the past three years, the company said, it has spent more than $50 million on capital investments in Lincoln.
Saffee said that while the change was a difficult decision to make due to the number of employees affected, the focus on animal health vaccines will streamline plant operations and strengthen its future role within the company.
The Lincoln plant was purchased by Pfizer in 1995. It is the company's largest manufacturing site for animal health products.
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