Looking to save money, Arkansas based Tyson Foods has announced plans to close two facilities it acquired when it purchased IBP Inc. in 2001.
A plant in Manchester, New Hampshire that makes mostly sandwich meat for food service customers, and a plant in Augusta, Maine that produces hot dogs, sausages, boneless hams and deli turkey products will be shut down in February.
According to Tyson Foods, the plant in Manchester, which currently employs approximately 550, is an older facility. After thorough analysis, the company has determined that the amount of capital required to bring this facility to a competitive level and to maintain appropriate food safety standards, would be better spent to accommodate production in newer more modern facilities. The majority of the production of the Augusta plant will be consolidated into the company’s facilities in Buffalo, New York, and Concordia, Missouri. The Augusta facility employs approximately 170 people.
The company expects to take pre-tax charges to earnings associated with these closures of $23 to $27 million or $.04 to $.05 per diluted share in the first half of its fiscal year ending October 2004.
“While it is never easy to make business decisions like these that affect the lives of our team members and the communities in which we operate, these steps are necessary for us to meet our responsibilities to all of our stakeholders,” said Group Vice President of Consumer Products, John Lea.
The Manchester plant started as Granite State Packing, a one person meatpacking operation, in 1933, and later became Jac Pac Foods. The Augusta plant was built in 1960 by the Joseph Kirschner Co. Tyson Foods acquired both plants with its acquisition of IBP, inc., in 2001.
