FrieslandCampina expands as cheese demand shifts

FrieslandCampina plans to invest EUR47 million to improve efficiency at its cheese plants in Workum, Marum, Balkbrug, Gerkesklooster and Leerdam. The cheese plants at Varsseveld and Leerbroek will be closed. The number of staff at the plants Marum and Gerkesklooster will be reduced. All sites are located in the Netherlands. These measures will result in the loss of a total of 159 jobs and create a further 52 new positions.
Piet Hilarides, COO Cheese & Butter at Royal FrieslandCampina: “The purpose of these measures is to further strengthen our international competitive position in cheese. Cost reductions through economies of scale and efficiency improvements are an essential part of our strategy route2020.”
FrieslandCampina plans to close its cheese production plant at Varsseveld during the fourth quarter of 2012. The Varsseveld plant produces the round Gouda cheese, the Gouda cheese block and Edam loaf cheeses. The total production volume is approximately 34,000 tonnes of cheese. Demand for these types of cheese is falling. At the same time, demand for Gouda cheese in the Euroblock format is growing. FrieslandCampina will therefore invest EUR31 million to expand production capacity at its production plant in Workum. This will boost total production capacity at the plant from 65,000 to 115,000 tonnes of cheese, making it one of the world’s biggest cheese plants.
Within FrieslandCampina, there is overcapacity in the ripening and packaging of small format Gouda cheese. In mid-2011, the cheese ripening and packaging plant at Leerbroek will be closed. The cheese ripening activities will be relocated to Gerkesklooster and the cheese packaging activities will move to Leerdam. In 2011, EUR 12 million will be invested in the automation of production and ripening of Edam cheese at the production plant in Marum. This will reduce the number of staff from 66 (52 FTEs and 14 contract staff) to 23.
In 2011, EUR3.8 million will be invested in expanding production capacity at the cheese production plant in Balkbrug by 9,000 tonnes, giving a total of 57,000 tonnes.