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WINSTON-SALEM N.C. -- Officials from Winston-Salem-based Reynolds American said the tobacco industry is changing.

"The smokeless category is growing in comparison to cigarette consumption in the United States," Maura Payne with Reynolds American said.

That means the tobacco giant needs to adapt. Friday, officials announced Reynolds will close two of its cigarette manufacturing plants, one in Puerto Rico and one in Winston-Salem at Whitaker Park.

The two plants will be consolidated to the company's largest facility in Tobaccoville.

"So the volume that was previously manufactured at those two plants will now be moved to Tobaccoville to enhance our efficiency, our productivity to allow us to run at peak performance in order to remain competitive," Payne said.

About 580 people work at the Whitaker Park Facility. Officials said it will likely be 2011 before they know how the move will impact jobs in Winston.

"Because we are moving production in from Whitaker Park to Tobaccoville and into Tobaccoville from Puerto Rico, we need more time to assess what the impact, if any, might be on our staffing," Payne said.

And while the move shows a shift in the tobacco industry, Winston-Salem's mayor said it also shows how the city itself is changing.

"We've had to reinvent ourselves from an old manufacturing city to one whose economy is based on knowledge industries, you know biotech, nanotechnology, design, finance, things of that nature," said Mayor Allen Joines. "All types of the new industries that we're trying to get here and we're making good progress in that regard."

About 60 people in Puerto Rico will lose their jobs. That facility will close in August. Whitaker Park will close in 2011.