Dive Brief:
- Smithfield Foods Inc. has announced several leadership changes, including the promotion of vice president and CFO Kenneth Sullivan to president and CEO Glenn Nunziata appointed as CFO, effective Oct. 1.
- Smithfield has added two senior leadership positions to promote innovation at the company: senior vice president and chief innovation officer William Brunt, as of Aug. 31, and vice president of innovation for the packaged meats division Jeff Warner, as of Aug. 24.
- Smithfield also announced another factory expansion in Cudahy, WI, this time a 12,500 square-foot expansion to add four new smokehouses and two dry rooms, which will increase production capacity by 3 million pounds per year. This expansion also leaves room for four extra dry rooms when the demand for volume grows along with future sales.
Dive Insight:
In Smithfield's recent earnings report, it was clear the company was struggling with the return of the hog supply, which has driven down pork prices and caused Smithfield's second-quarter profits to fall 27%. That pain was felt particularly in Smithfield's fresh pork and hog production segments, though the packaged meats division actually saw improved profitability due to the lower prices. Now is a good time for Smithfield to invest in innovation leadership executives who might be able to steer Smithfield back to profitability despite the decline of pork prices.
"At the start of this year, we launched a new organizational structure to support Smithfield's market position as a global leader in branded packaged meats and position the company to take advantage of additional opportunities for growth," C. Larry Pope, current president and CEO of Smithfield told Food Business News. "With our new structure in place, we have already been able to better utilize management talent across the Company as planned and today’s senior leadership appointments make our team even stronger."
This was Smithfield's second factory expansion in Cudahy in 2015, as earlier this year, the company broke ground on a new $12 million, 17,000 square-foot bacon slicing plant with four slicing lines that will boost the company's bacon capacity by about 10 million pounds per year.