WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - To maximize cigarette-manufacturing efficiency and expand smokeless tobacco production capacity, several operating companies of Reynolds American Inc. are making changes to their manufacturing facilities.

A cigarette factory in Winston-Salem, N.C., and one in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, will close, and production from those two older plants will transfer to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company??s largest facility in Tobaccoville, N.C.

Meanwhile, American Snuff Company LLC is expanding its smokeless tobacco processing and manufacturing capacity by investing in facilities in Memphis and Clarksville, Tenn.

"Our operating companies are optimizing their manufacturing networks to increase efficiency, upgrade and expand some operations, and reduce complexity," said Susan Ivey, RAI??s chairman, president and CEO, in a press release. "These changes make our companies more efficient in light of the declining U.S. cigarette industry and growth in smokeless tobacco. Consolidating production into fewer and newer facilities will also facilitate cost-effective compliance with new federal regulation of the tobacco industry."