WILLIAMSTOWN — Employees at Steinerfilm, many of whom have worked there for decades, feel like family, said Nita Tanner, the company’s chief financial officer.

A 200-person operation at its height, the company now employs a tight-knit group of a few dozen who manufacture metallized plastic film during 10-hour shifts.

That is, until the end of June, when the longtime employer hidden behind hills and railroad tracks off Simonds Road closes its doors, leaving 34 people — some of whom worked at the manufacturer for their entire career — without jobs.

Nita Tanner, Steinerfilm's chief financial officer, said the prospect of closing down — and the impact that will have on the employees — has been difficult. “I’ve been here 10 years and can retire," she said. "I can’t imagine how they feel.”

“I know how emotional I am,” Tanner said. “I’ve been here 10 years and can retire. I can’t imagine how they feel.”

Tanner said Steinerfilm is trying to connect as many employees with jobs and resources before the facility officially closes its doors. As the company winds down operations in the Berkshires, CEO Anne Dollarton-Feltmate said it is transitioning as many of their customers as possible to its German sister company, Steiner Film GmbH, which will remain open.

After the facility shuts down, the company will decommission the machines and clear out before the roughly 40 acres goes up for sale, Dollarton-Feltmate said.

Rising costs, supply chain issues and tariffs made it increasingly difficult to operate in the U.S., she told The Eagle. A planned sale of the company to a customer recently fell through, Tanner said, and Steinerfilm learned last week it would have to close.

“It’s everything every company is struggling with,” Dollarton-Feltmate said. “Our decision is that we are consolidating to one facility [in Germany].”

Tariffs in the last year on materials that the company uses to make its films “hurt us big time,” Tanner said.

Steinerfilm is closing its Williamstown facility after 54 years.

Dollarton-Feltmate said its biggest competition is in Asia, which is also now the only place Steinerfilm can buy the polyester it uses for its base film — at a 100 percent tariff.

“The biggest thing that hurt us was the base film,” Tanner said.

Metallized film made by Steinerfilm in Williamstown. The company is closing its Williamstown site in June and consolidating to its German facility.

Metallized dielectric film is a thin plastic film that is coated with metal and used for film capacitors, batteries and “anything that stores or releases energy," Dollarton-Feltmate said. The Eagle was not allowed in the manufacturing area, but Dollarton-Feltmate showed a reporter rolls of film the company made.

Though it has signed nondisclosure agreements with its customers and Dollarton-Feltmate said it can’t discuss the products it makes, the company’s metallized film is specially ordered by customers.

All of Steinerfilm’s equipment is made in Germany and will go back when it closes shop.

In the early 1950s, German engineer Ernst Steiner had an idea to use plastic film for electrical capacitors if it could be metallized, or put on a conductive material.

At the time, paper with metallized layers of aluminum were used and Steiner’s polyester film was much thinner than the previously used materials — taking up less space.

Nita Tanner looks at photos of Steinerfilm founders Ernst and Else Tanner. The German manufacturer has operated in Williamstown since 1972 and will close U.S. operations in June.

Steiner KG was formed in 1951, according to the company’s website, and it began constructing its facility in Schameder in 1966 — where the sister company still operates. In 1972, the Steiners launched the Williamstown location as a sales and distribution operation only and it began manufacturing the film in 1978.

In 1981, Steinerfilm moved a plastic film line to Williamstown to in-house its base film supply, building seen above. That closed in 2014 after it became cheaper to buy it from Germany, Nita Tanner said.

In 1981, Steinerfilm moved a plastic film line to Williamstown to in-house its base film supply. It was called Chadbourne. That closed in 2014 after it became cheaper to buy it from Germany, Tanner said.

The Steiners chose the location because of proximity to Sprague Electric, then the region’s biggest employer that was known for making capacitors, both executives said.

The couple had a house in the area, and after Steiner died in 1988, Else stayed in the Williamstown community where she died a few years ago.

Grandson Marc Steiner is chairman and owner of Steinerfilm and Steiner KG.

Many Steinerfilm employees worked at Sprague before it closed and vice versa, said Dollarton-Feltmate. Some people who still work at Steinerfilm have worked there their whole career, from manufacturers to quality control to custodial staff, and some of whom were not yet eligible for retirement.

One man started at the company as a packer and bagger in 1982 as a teen, and is now the company’s chief operations officer. He is not old enough to retire, Tanner said.

“He has worked every single job in this place,” she said. “You can imagine how it feels to have to say to him, ‘See ya.’”

Though she started a year and a half ago, Dollarton-Feltmate cited the “family feeling,” as well as the company's quick acceptance of newcomers, convinced her to take the job.

The company has scheduled June resume workshops and a job fair for employees and are hosting info sessions on how to get insured if they don’t immediately find a job. Tanner said that MassHire’s Rapid Response service has been helpful in understanding what resources are available. It will come back to help workers file for  unemployment benefits.

“They are basically holding everyone’s hand through the process, which I think is awesome,” Dollarton-Feltmate said.

Both leaders said they also enjoyed the “beautiful” property, which is mostly woods and fields of wildflowers. They are sometimes greeted by deer and turkey at their office windows.

Tanner said she has been on the verge of retirement for multiple years but hasn’t wanted to leave.

“They are just a good group of people,” she said. “I wish they weren’t so nice, then I wouldn’t cry so much.”