Nestlé Closing Riverside County Location, Wabash Announces Layoffs

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A national manufacturer of products for the transportation, logistics and infrastructure markets is laying off 100 workers in Riverside County, while an international brand, Nestlé, is closing a Riverside County manufacturing location, resulting in 88 job losses.

According to the California Employment Development Department, Lafayette, Indiana-based Wabash National filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the state on Jan. 5. The company intends to lay off 100 employees by March 6 at its facilities in Moreno Valley and Perris. The Moreno Valley site at 22135 Alessandro Boulevard will see 94 jobs lost, while six layoffs are planned at Wabash's Perris facility, 1190 Harley Knox Boulevard.

Nestlé is closing its massive facility at 3450 Dulles Drive in Jurupa Valley, resulting in 88 job losses, according to a Jan. 12 WARN filing. The closure is expected to be complete by March 13.

Across both companies, all of the job losses are in the manufacturing sector, the state filings show.

Late last year, Wabash National executives cautioned that demand was soft, a factor that's hard to control. Though much of Wabash's supply chain is domestically sourced, the Trump administration's tariffs are affecting the company.

Wabash has largely avoided direct exposure to tariffs, but it incurred $1 million in tariff-related expenses during the company's third fiscal quarter that ended Sept. 30. The expenses were primarily due to vendor price increases, Senior Vice President, Chief Growth Officer, Mike Pettit told investors during a Q3 earnings call in October.

The closure of the Nestlé plant follows news in August that the Swiss-based food-and-beverage giant had completed a new 700,000-square-foot distribution center at Tejon Ranch Commerce Center. The site, located between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, enhances distribution efficiency across the West Coast, according to TRCC.