This story by Josh O’Gorman was published by the Waterbury Record on Jan. 31.

Keurig Dr Pepper has followed through with its layoff announcement in October and shuttered the company’s Early Production Center in Waterbury.

The company shut down that operation at the end of December, following an announcement in late October that the company would lay off 118 employees across the company’s three Vermont locations, with Waterbury workers taking the brunt of the cuts.

The layoffs followed the July merger of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group to form Keurig Dr Pepper. The new company offers an array of potable products, from A&W Root Beer to Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink, and expects to generate $11 billion in annual revenue.

The layoffs were among the largest in Vermont in 2018. In June, tech manufacturer Global Foundries announced it was laying off 118 people. In October, Entergy Nuclear, which owned the shut-down Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, announced it would lay off 130 workers.

“This is an important step for us, and is part of our reorganization plan,” Katie Gilroy, director of corporate communications for Keurig Dr Pepper, said of the layoff announcement.

The Waterbury facility developed and tested new methods to produce the company’s ubiquitous K-cups, the single-serving coffee pods that have driven much of the company’s success in recent years.

As part of the reorganization process, the “test and learn” work was relocated to facilities that are dedicated to large-scale production.

In an interview Monday, Gilroy said some administrative work related to human resources and finances is still being performed at the Waterbury location.

The company still employs about 900 people in Vermont, with nearly all the workers at facilities in Waterbury Center, Essex and Williston.

In recent weeks, rumors on social media have suggested there have been additional layoffs, but Gilroy said those rumors are not correct.

“I don’t know if it’s because it was a delayed layoff and the facility closed after the announcement, but there have been no additional layoffs,” Gilroy said.

Gilroy said there have been no announced layoffs since the layoffs in October. She declined to say if additional layoffs are coming.

Lindsay H. Kurrle, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor, confirmed that her office has not received word of additional layoffs. Vermont law requires an employer laying off 50 or more workers over a 90-day period to notify the Department of Labor.