In an effort to streamline operations, the Kraft Heinz company said Wednesday it will close seven plants in the US and Canada during the next one to two years, eliminating 2,600 jobs.
Slated to close are manufacturing facilities in Fullerton, CA; San Leandro, CA; Federalsburg, MD; Campbell, NY; Lehigh Valley, PA; Madison, WI; and St Mary’s, Canada.
The closures include the Oscar Mayer plant in Madison which employs about 700 production workers. Kraft Heinz said 250 corporate jobs will be moved from Madison to Chicago, according to the Associated Press.
“Our decision to consolidate manufacturing across the Kraft Heinz North American network is a critical step in our plan to eliminate excess capacity and reduce operational redundancies for the new combined company,” says Michael Mullen, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs at Kraft Heinz in a statement.
In August, Kraft Heinz cut 2,500 jobs in the US and Canada. With this week’s announcement, total jobs cut since the merger earlier this year stand at 5,100, or more than 10 percent of its combined workforce.
Heinz and Kraft announced the companies would merge in March. The combination of these brands creates a global powerhouse—the fifth largest food and beverage company in the world—that joins iconic brands including Heinz, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida and Philadelphia. According to the companies, together they will have eight $1+ billion brands and five brands between $500 million and $1 billion. The new company, which projects revenues of approximately $28 billion, is co-headquartered out of Pittsburgh and Chicago, the companies’ respective homes.
