Paper Cup Plant Springfield Time Line
Paper Cup Plant Springfield Time Line
• 1952: Augusta, Ga.-based Lily Tulip opens the factory. The plant employs about 1,700. Its entrance is designed to look like a giant white paper cup. Real estate investor C. Arch Bay is instrumental in bringing the company to Springfield.
• 1984: Lily Tulip completes a $4.5 million plant expansion.
• 1986: Publicly traded Fort Howard Cup Corp., a Green Bay, Wis., company, buys Lily Tulip. The Springfield plant's name remains Lily Tulip.
• 1986: Lily Tulip lays off 225 workers, leaving a work force of about 1,100.
• 1987: 1,150 Lily Tulip employees agree to a 6 percent pay cut, a two-year wage freeze and reduced benefits to guarantee their jobs.
• 1988: A group of investors buys Fort Howard, taking the company private.
1989: Sweetheart Cup Co. of Chicago buys Fort Howard, including the Springfield plant.
• 1989: Springfield Sweetheart plant lays off about 300 workers, leaving a work force of 900.
• 1993: Sweetheart’s workforce grows to about 1,300 employees, making it one of Springfield's top employers.
• 1997: Sweetheart lays off 140 workers.
• 1998: Sweetheart merges with Valhalla, N.Y.-based Fonda Group Inc. The company has 850 employees at the Springfield plant.
• 2001: Sweetheart announces it will lay off 200 employees, leaving a work force of about 400.
• 2004: Chicago-based Solo Cup buys Sweetheart.
• 2005: Solo announces it will close the Springfield plant by the end of the year.
• 2006: Plans to close the plant are called off after Solo signs a new five-year contract with the union.
• June 2010: Solo announces plans to close the plant.
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