The short version: H.B. Fuller will close its Paducah manufacturing site by the end of the first quarter of 2027, a loss Greater Paducah Economic Development estimates at about 100 jobs. Kentucky's WARN Notice Report, the state's public record of plant closings and mass layoffs, lists 32 active notices covering 4,301 workers. Two are in the Purchase region. Fuller is not one of them.
The announcement came Friday afternoon, in a statement to local newsrooms. This is the portion the company released, as WPSD Local 6 printed it:
"After a careful and thorough review of our North American manufacturing network, we have made the decision to close our Paducah manufacturing site. Importantly, this decision does not reflect the performance of the facility or our valued employees. We are committed to fully supporting all affected employees throughout the transition process with personalized support, including severance and outplacement."
No headcount. No date beyond a quarter. No reason. The Paducah Sun reported that the company declined an interview.
Jim Moore, director of business development at Greater Paducah Economic Development, told the Sun that approximately 100 jobs will be lost. That is the development agency's estimate. The company has not confirmed a number and no filing exists to check it against.
The plant sits at 5000 Charter Oak Drive. H.B. Fuller's location directory lists it as a manufacturer serving three markets: adhesives for disposable hygiene products, building and construction products, and packaging.
The plan behind it is nineteen months old
H.B. Fuller, a publicly traded adhesives company trading as FUL, has been telling investors since January 2025 that it intends to shrink hard. The target, as laid out to the trade press, is 82 global manufacturing plants down to about 55 by 2030, and 55 North American warehouses down to 10 by the end of 2027, chasing roughly $75 million a year in savings.
The company's second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings release carries a line called organizational realignment that includes, in its words, "facility rationalization costs related to the closure of production facilities and consolidation of business activities." Six months of those costs came to $7.99 million.
Moore described the closure the same way. "It's part of a strategic planning process that the company is going through, where they're evaluating their North American manufacturing and then trying to see where they can reduce facility sizes that way across the country," he told the Sun. And: "These companies are making decisions on where they can save money, where they can impact their bottom line, and in some cases, make more for their shareholders."
Twenty-seven plants have to come off that map by 2030. Paducah is one of them.
Fuller has not named Paducah in any investor release or SEC filing. Its most recent 8-K is dated July 20. The closure has been announced to employees and to two local newsrooms.
What the state's layoff list shows
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires larger employers to give advance written notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. In Kentucky those notices go to the Education and Labor Cabinet, which publishes them in a spreadsheet on the Kentucky Career Center's Rapid Response page. It is the closest thing the state has to an official count of who is losing work and where.
The current file is dated August 5, 2026.
Kentucky WARN Notice Report, Aug. 5, 2026 | |
|---|---|
Active notices statewide | 32 |
Workers covered statewide | 4,301 |
Notices in the 11 Purchase-region counties | 2 |
Workers covered in the Purchase | 181 |
Stella-Jones Corporation, Fulton County | Closure, 67 workers, notice received Apr. 30 |
CC Metals and Alloys, Marshall County | Layoff, 114 workers, notice received Mar. 17 |
H.B. Fuller, McCracken County | Not listed |
Premier Candle Corp., Graves County | Not listed |
Precision Parcel Logistics, McCracken County | Not listed |
The prior-year sheet in the same workbook holds 66 notices from 2025. None are in the Purchase.
Some of that is timing. The file predates Friday's announcement by two days, so a Fuller notice could still land.
Timing does not explain the rest. WPSD reported in July that four western Kentucky employers had shed roughly 350 jobs since March: CC Metals and Alloys in Calvert City, 114. Precision Parcel Logistics in Paducah, 99. Premier Candle in Graves County, 70. Stella-Jones in Fulton County, 67. Two of those four are on the state's list. Two are not.
WARN only triggers at certain sizes, generally 100 or more employees at a site, or 50 when they make up a third of the workforce, and it carries exceptions for unforeseeable business circumstances and for layoffs run in stages. An employer that cuts below the threshold, or cuts in pieces, never appears. The public record of job losses in this region is a sample, not a count.
The union was told in July
Fuller said in mid-July that it was considering the move, in language stating it had "notified union representatives and employees that the company is recommending the potential closure of the Paducah facility." The plant is organized under United Steelworkers Local 9447.
The union has not commented. The Sun reported that representative Josh Gray said he would give a statement and that none had arrived.
What happens to the building is unsettled
Moore told the Sun it is too soon to know which business takes the site or how much tax revenue goes with it. "We want to do whatever we can to discuss the company and find out if there's a way to retain any of those and keep them here, keep some aspect of the facility here," he said. "I think that it's important for us to have those conversations."
Neither the city nor the development agency has issued a statement. The newest item on Paducah's news feed is dated August 4. GPED's most recent post is from July 31, about the American Energy Hub.
The closure lands in the same stretch as two much larger announcements west of town: a proposed $100 billion AI and energy campus on leased federal land, and the first anniversary of a $1.5 billion uranium enrichment project. Those are 2031 timelines. The $1.76 billion laser enrichment plant nearby pledges 240 jobs against roughly $7.3 million of capital apiece, the arithmetic of a nuclear facility: heavy money, light headcount. A hundred manufacturing jobs is a different kind of employment, and it goes away by spring.
Open questions remain on whether a WARN notice gets filed, whether any state or local incentive agreement is attached to the site, and what becomes of the building.
Quick questions
When does the plant close? By the end of the first quarter of 2027, per the company's statement. No month has been given.
How many jobs? About 100, according to Greater Paducah Economic Development. The company has not confirmed a figure.
What did the plant make? Adhesives for disposable hygiene products, building and construction products, and packaging, at 5000 Charter Oak Drive.
Is it on the state's layoff list? Not as of the report dated August 5, 2026. Neither are two other recent Purchase-region job losses.
Why is it closing? The company has said only that it conducted "a careful and thorough review" of its North American network. It has told investors since January 2025 that it plans to cut from 82 plants to about 55 by 2030.
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