J.M. Smucker to Shutter 4 Plants
J.M. Smucker to Shutter 4 Plants
J.M. Smucker to Shutter 4 Plants
J.M. Smucker Co. is closing four plants, including one in North Texas, and cutting 700 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, the food maker said Wednesday.
The company, which makes Folgers Coffee, Smucker's jams and other products, is closing coffee plants in Sherman and in Kansas City, Mo., to consolidate production in New Orleans. The Sherman plant will close next spring, and Kansas City operations will cease in 2012, the company said.
It's also closing fruit-spread plants in Memphis and Ste. Marie, Quebec, and moving the bulk of its production to Orrville, Ohio, where the company is headquartered. Those plants will close in summer 2013.
Smucker inherited the one-story, 450,000-square-foot Sherman plant in 2008 when it acquired Folgers.
Sherman employs about 95, the smallest workforce among the four targeted plants.
Once the Sherman plant closes, Smucker's only Texas production facility will be in El Paso, where it makes Eagle brand condensed milk.
Smucker said it will spend $220 million over the next three years to build a plant in Orrville, improve facilities in New Orleans and upgrade equipment and technology at its Ripon, Wis., plant to support the changes.
Tim Smucker, chairman of the board and co-CEO of the company, said the consolidation is important for long-term growth. The company expects to save $60 million annually, excluding one-time costs, when the transition is complete.
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