SABIC Leaving Pittsfield by 2017; Closing Polymer Development Center

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — SABIC on Wednesday confirmed that it will no longer have a presence in Pittsfield after 2017.

Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. says it will combine its technology and innovation operations in its Selkirk, N.Y., location — closing its Pittsfield Polymer Processing Development Center and another site in Exton, Pa.

City officials have been waiting for the other shoe to drop since SABIC announced in October it would relocate its headquarters in the former GE site to Houston, taking some 300 jobs along with it, by next year.

SABIC says the consolidation is being done to improve collaboration and research.

"This integration will not only drive important efficiencies, it will also merge material science, process engineering and application development into a collaborative environment that will lead to new innovation breakthroughs," said Awadh Al-Maker, executive vice president of SABIC Technology & Innovation, in a statement.

Spokeswoman Jodi Kennedy, in response to questions, said SABIC does not share how many people are employed at its facilities and did not say how many jobs will be affected. The transition, she confirmed, will happen "sometime in 2017" but did not comment on whether any jobs would be affected prior to that.

"We're hoping that many of our employees from the PPDC will commute to Selkirk," she wrote.

The state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development activated its "Rapid Response Team" in October to aid workers after the announcement of the headquarter's closing. SABIC indicated those employees could have jobs in Houston, although it was not known how many workers that affected or how many would leave with the company.

SABIC purchased the assets of GE Plastics in 2007 for more than $11 billion.

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