Nearly 186 workers from its Vonore, Tennessee distribution plant are about lose their job as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer now outsources its logistics and distribution operations to a third-party logistics company.

Pfizer revealed that the layoff is the result of the restructuring of distribution operations strategy in its Global Manufacturing division. The Vonore distribution center will be taken over by Exel, an Ohio based logistics service provider, and Deutsche Post DHL, a global logistics group. Excel will distribute Pfizer products from the 640,000-square-foot plant in the Tellico West Industrial Park while Deutsche Post DHL will contract out distribution of drug and health care products, and reduce excess capacity.

Philip Rose, an executive with Pfizer Global Manufacturing’s Americas Logistics & Supply Operations, said that the restructuring of their company logistics network is a critical effort to continuously meet their customer needs and remain competitive in the future. “The announcement is very difficult to make because of its impact on our colleagues. But we are actively working on the strategies that we hope will minimize disruption both to our employees who work in Vonore and to the local community.”

Pfizer spokesman, Rick Chambers, added that affected employees will be eligible for severance and other benefits. “With the discussions we’ve had with Exel, we believe that they will hire as many of the current employees as they can,” Chambers said.