Dive Brief:
- Depending on whether new lines are installed in an Oreo or Chips Ahoy plant in Chicago or another plant in Salinas, Mexico, Mondelez International could cut either a few hundred or several hundred jobs at the Chicago facility, the company's largest bakery in the country.
- If Chicago receives the new high-speed lines, Mondelez will cut 300 jobs, but if the lines are not installed in Chicago, the plant will lose 600 jobs, amounting to about half of the bakery's workforce.
- The four new lines would take the place of nine of the 16 lines currently operating at the Chicago facility.
Dive Insight:
Cost may be one component of Mondelez's final decision. According to officials, "Adding new capacity in Chicago would cost the company more than $46 million in annualized operating costs and capital expense compared with Mexico," reports the Chicago Tribune. Another aspect will be the input of labor unions.
The company will not shut down the Chicago plant, as it is still a vital part of Mondelez's bakery supply chain.