Mondelez International will invest more than $130 million to fund the installation of four state-of-the-art manufacturing lines at the company’s Americas production facility in Salinas, Mexico.
The new production lines—dubbed “lines of the future”—will be completed by mid-2016 and replace nine older inefficient lines at the company’s Chicago biscuit plant, impacting some 600 jobs at the facility, according to Mondelez.
The new announcement builds on the company's earlier manufacturing investments of more than $170 million in manufacturing lines at its US biscuit plants in Fair Lawn, NJ, Naperville, IL and Richmond, VA as well as additional investments in new technologies within its North American supply chain.
"This new investment is part of our ongoing supply chain reinvention plan, as we implement several initiatives around the world to transform our global manufacturing processes to accelerate growth, reduce costs and improve productivity," said Daniel Myers, EVP, Integrated Supply Chain. "These investments will enable a significant percentage of our global Power Brands to be produced on advantaged assets and are key contributors to our overall margin improvement."
While the new lines will replace older production lines in Chicago, Mondelez said this facility will remain an important to its North American business.
"The Chicago plant has been and will continue to be an important part of the company's North American biscuit footprint, producing a variety of beloved consumer products," said Olivier Bouret, vice president, North America Integrated Supply Chain, Biscuits. "While the new investment will affect approximately 600 positions in Chicago, we're committed to treating all impacted employees fairly through this difficult time."
Mondelez said the Chicago plant will continue to be one of the company’s largest North American manufacturing facilities in terms of headcount, and the company plans to continue to invest in capabilities, technologies and infrastructure upgrades at the facility.
