Birds Eye Wall's is to cut 320 jobs at its Gloucester ice cream manufacturing plant as part of a restructuring operation aimed at slashing costs by £12m.
The plant, which forms part of the company's 10-unit European supply chain network, currently employs 773 people and produces 14 of the company's ice cream brands including top-selling Magnum, Cornetto and Solero.
The restructure will involve stopping production of the Twister and Romantica brands at the plant and cutting the volume of the other 12, with the balance moving to owner Unilever's ice cream plants in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Production will switch from a seven-day working week to five days.
The company blamed manufacturing overcapacity across its European business, and chairman James Hill said the Gloucester plant could only continue as a centre for manufacturing excellence if it stayed competitive. The company said it regretted the job losses and anticipated no compulsory redundancies before September 2003, unless by prior agreement.
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The plant, which forms part of the company's 10-unit European supply chain network, currently employs 773 people and produces 14 of the company's ice cream brands including top-selling Magnum, Cornetto and Solero.
The restructure will involve stopping production of the Twister and Romantica brands at the plant and cutting the volume of the other 12, with the balance moving to owner Unilever's ice cream plants in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Production will switch from a seven-day working week to five days.
The company blamed manufacturing overcapacity across its European business, and chairman James Hill said the Gloucester plant could only continue as a centre for manufacturing excellence if it stayed competitive. The company said it regretted the job losses and anticipated no compulsory redundancies before September 2003, unless by prior agreement.
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