May 7 - Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. has announced plans to close its plant at Oud Gastel (the Netherlands) with effect from June 2010. Production activities will move to other Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. production locations. The closure will result in the loss of all 105 jobs in Oud Gastel.
FrieslandCampina Professional’s plant at Oud Gastel produces cream, ice cream mix, coffee creamer and cream cheese. Production will relocate to other Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. outlets.
The manufacture of cream in aerosol cans will move to Lummen, Belgium, production of coffee creamer in cups will transfer to Aalter, also in Belgium, coffee creamer in cartons to Leeuwarden (the Netherlands) and cream and ice cream mix in wholesale packaging to Lummen and Nuenen (the Netherlands). The best production location for cream cheese will be studied further.
Due to the existing production capacity available in these other locations, production can be transferred with relatively little extra investment. In Lummen, the number of jobs will increase by 18 due to the need to expand capacity there. Production at the other locations can start with existing capacity.
The proposed reorganisation ties in with the policy of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. to control costs and further boost efficiency.
Social consequences
The closure of the plant will result in the loss of 89 fulltime jobs and 16 temporary jobs at Oud Gastel. The Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. social plan applies to the affected fulltime workers. An appropriate solution will be found for these employees, either within Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. or elsewhere. It is expected that enough jobs will be found within Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. to accommodate them. The proposal to close the plant was submitted to the Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. works council for its opinion.