The facility joins plants in California, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which will close between 12 and 24 months from now, according to a company spokesperson.
Advertisement
Cutbacks already had been expected after the company merged this summer, a product of Heinz’s purchase of Kraft.
“Additionally, Kraft Heinz is announcing that in 2016 we will move Oscar Mayer and our US Meats Business Unit from Madison, Wisconsin to our co-headquarters in Chicago”, Mullen stated. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state negotiated with Kraft-Heinz, prompting the company to reverse its plans to close plants in Avon and Walton, saving jobs there for at least five years.
Kraft Heinz senior vice president of corporate and government affairs Michael Mullen said production at these factories will be transferred elsewhere over the next two years.
Kraft Heinz also plans to move about 250 corporate jobs from Madison to Chicago, the company’s co-headquarters along with Pittsburgh. “We have reached this hard but necessary decision after thoroughly exploring extensive alternatives and options”.
Signs that the Madison plant was in trouble began surfacing shortly after the merger when the new company announced in August it would eliminate 165 jobs.
These production shifts will be completed in about two years, Mullen said.
The job cuts were not surprising, given the reputation of the company’s management on Wall Street. Kraft Heinz has said it expects to save about $1.5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2017.
The company now has 44,100 employees.
Kraft Heinz is looking to build a new plant in Davenport.
“The impact on Madison and the metro area has got to be in hundreds of millions of dollars”, Soglin said during an afternoon news conference Wednesday.
The construction of a new manufacturing plant in Davenport is considered a victory for Iowa officials, who competed with another state to secure a home for the new facility, according to the documents the board reviewed before approving the tax breaks.
Advertisement
With the support of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, Heinz has acquired Kraft.
