PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (AP) — A company that makes award ribbons has announced that it is closing its Rhode Island manufacturing plant and consolidating production at a Missouri facility.

Portsmouth-based Hodges Badge Co. Inc. announced the decision Wednesday, which will put about 45 people out of work. Corporate staff will remain in Rhode Island.

President and CEO Rick Hodges said in a statement the move was “a necessary and critical economic decision that we do not take lightly.”

The Portsmouth plant will close in November and production moved to Washington, Missouri, which already handles more than 70 percent of its manufacturing business.

The 98-year-old company moved from Boston to Rhode Island in 1974 and expanded to Missouri in the late 1980s.

Employees will be offered severance.