Naperville plant closes after 12 years

A Naperville plant that has been in operation for 12 years is shutting down in November as the parent company consolidates work at other facilities.

In all, 121 jobs will be lost.

Some city officials are chalking up the loss of Oberthur Card Systems to the high cost of running businesses in Illinois.

Most of the work done at the plant at 2764 Golfview Drive on the city's northwest side included personalization of magnetic swipe cards and no-contact swipe cards, company officials said.

Oberthur is one of the world's largest manufacturers of smart cards and payment cards, company officials said.

"We are looking for opportunities for individuals who will have their work displaced from the Naperville plant," said Garfield Smith, the California-based company's vice president of marketing.

The work being done at the Naperville plant will be split between two other North American processing plants -- one in Virginia, the other in California, Smith said. A similar consolidation is occurring at the company's French plants.

"We took a look at the plants and the Naperville plant itself was physically too small to meet expansion and efficiency plans the company had set," Smith said.

A recent Forbes magazine article listed Illinois as 40th in terms of what states have the best business climates. Virginia ranked No. 1 and California came in 34th.

Naperville City Councilman Richard Furstenau said it is not surprising to see businesses move out of Illinois these days.

"There are a lot of expenses doing business in Illinois nowadays," he said. "Property taxes are through the roof. I don't blame them for packing up and going somewhere else when the climate isn't what it should be."

Smith said the decision to close the Naperville plant was based on "efficiency" and "competitiveness."

Company officials said the Naperville plant is expected to cease operations Nov. 1. The first wave of layoffs will begin Sept. 4, with about 20 employees going then.

Smith said some jobs will be created at the other plants to make up for the loss of the Naperville workers. However, he said Naperville employees will be given priority hiring if they're interested in moving to the other two plants.