TINE savings mean potential plant closures

The company says the dairy in Elnesvågen will be rebuilt, and the closure of the Voss plant will be considered once the rebuild is complete. Cream cheese production will be consolidated to Ørsta, with the dairy in Hardanger closing. Overall this will provide cost reductions of NOK69m ($8.4m) per year, but it will take several years before any changes can be implemented. Any changes will not be implemented until 2020/2021 after Jarlsberg production for export has been discontinued. Jarlsberg in Ireland TINE recently announced that it is partnering with Dairygold to create a plant in Ireland to expand production of its Jarlsberg cheese because export subsidies in Norway are being phased out by 2020, making the export of Jarlsberg unprofitable. The company says that it will work on an implementation plan for the restructuring in order to assist employees affected by the changes. “I fully understand that many of our employees now feel uncertainty in relation to future work, but we will ensure that measures will be taken to secure employees in this period as we have done many times before with good results,” said executive vice president production, Per Ivar Berg. Berg said that there will be collaboration with local stakeholders in areas where TINE is closing facilities. Changes to plants The changes mean that the Elnesvågen facility will be converted to the production of rindless cheese when production of Jarlsberg ends, probably from 2020. When this conversion takes place, a new evaluation of the future of the Voss plant will be made. While the plant will continue to operate for several more years, there will be limited investment during this period. The production of goat cheese and “Gomme” products at Elnesvågen and Ørsta will transfer to other plants, mostly to Byrkjelo, Lom and Skjåk. Berg said that with increasing competition, especially from imports, and the loss of export subsidies, it is important that TINE operates efficiently.

TINE savings mean potential plant closures

TINE SA has announced changes that will affect several of its Norwegian plants.

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