Unilever closing Alberto Culver plant

Consumer products maker Unilever PLC is planning to close the Alberto Culver plant outside Chicago, resulting in the layoff of about 600 workers.

Unilever spokeswoman Anita Larsen told the Chicago Sun-Times the entire office staff at the plant in Melrose Park will be cut or transferred.

Workers at the plant say they’ve been told it will be wound down through next year and shuttered sometime in 2013. Larsen said the decision to close the plant resulted from “a review of the company’s manufacturing network in order to achieve cost efficiencies.”

Unilever, based in Amsterdam, acquired Alberto Culver Co. last year for $3.7 billion. The plant turns out Alberto VO5 and TRESemme shampoos. The plant also makes Nexxus shampoos and conditioners, as well as St. Ives lotions and body wash.