Nestlé has revealed plans for further layoffs at a US factory in the state of Ohio.
The world’s largest food company first announced 77 job cuts in November at the Solon facility. A new batch of 216 staff are also now set to lose their jobs, which is separate to the November numbers, a Nestlé spokesperson confirmed.
“To best serve our consumers now and into the future, we are optimising our manufacturing network and shifting some production from our Solon factory to other sites within our US network,” the spokesperson said in a statement provided to Just Food.
“The Solon factory will continue to be an important part of our manufacturing network and will run lines dedicated to our growing out-of-home business. The business will actively review opportunities to add capacity to the factory in the future as the business environment evolves.”
Asked to clarify the operations carried out at the Solon site, the spokesperson named a number of brands: “The Solon factory currently makes single-serve retail trays for Lean Cuisine and Stouffers, as well as various sizes of pouch product for foodservice.
“Following this change, the Solon factory will continue to make Stouffer’s branded and non-branded out-of-home pouch items such as alfredo sauces, macaroni and cheese, and spinach dip.”
Nestlé serves the out-of-home channel through its Nestlé Professional business unit.
In Ohio, the company employs more than 3,000 people across nine facilities, including its US corporate office and factory, two Purina pet-food plants, a quality assurance lab and R&D unit, and a Nestlé Professional facility, according to the statement.
Workers who are likely to lose their jobs will be eligible to apply for open roles at Nestlé’s other US manufacturing facilities, including in Ohio.
“We are committed to doing all we can to support our people during this change, such as developing comprehensive separation packages to ease employees’ career transitions and collaborating with state and local officials to provide additional resources and support,” Nestlé said.
Nestlé is due to issue its full-year fiscal 2023 results on 22 February.
Figures issued in October for the first nine months of the year showed group sales rose 7.8% on an organic basis to SFr68.8bn ($79.6bn) but were down 0.4% in reported terms.
Retail sales increased 7.1% and those for foodservice were up 15.7%, both reported organically.
For the North American division, Nestlé’s largest revenue earner, group sales climbed 8% organically to SFr19bn but declined 0.3% in reported terms.
