Jobs go at Dean, Land O’Lakes closes plant

American dairy firm Dean Foods is to cut 200 of its staff in the next year, while co-operative Land O’Lakes is to close its spreads plant in Faribault, Minnesota.
The majority of the Dean job losses are at Dean’s former headquarters in Franklin Park, Illinois. There will also be losses at the company’s Illinois operations at Rosemount and Rockford.
The news came after Dean posted falling results for the last quarter of 2001 in February. The company blamed costs of the Suiza takeover in December and rising milk costs for a 17% drop in net profits.
However, for the same period Dean’s sales were $1.76 billion (e2 billion), up 12.4% on the same period in 2000. The company’s dairy division, by far its largest business, saw revenue for 2001 8.8% up on 2000 at just over e4.3 billion.
Commenting on the results, Dean Foods ceo Gregg Engles said: “Our operating units performed very well in spite of an exceptionally difficult operating environment.” Land O’Lakes’ Faribault spreads plant will close by the end of the summer. The factory produces margarine, spreads, flavoured butter, spray-dried dairy products and malted milk products. The closure is part of Land O’Lakes’ plan to produce all of its foodservice and retail spreads at its plant in Kent, Ohio.
In a statement, Land O’Lakes said it had decided to close the factory after looking at market trends and plant capabilities.
Land O’Lakes operations and supply chain vice president Fernando Palacios said: “What we are seeing in spreads is a combination of a basically flat market and excess production capacity.” He added: “Given these market conditions, it is not feasible to operate both the Kent and Faribault plants competitively.” The production capacity of the Kent plant, constructed in 1982, is approximately three times that of the Faribault facility, which was built in 1948.