Redundancies possible at cheese plants

Up to 660 employees of dairy company National Foods could be affected by moves to
streamline its cheese manufacturing operations.
The company plans to review operations at nine of its cheese plants across Australia
by February next year.
"We'll be looking for any potentials of duplication in the network, better ways of
doing things," a company spokesman told AAP on Tuesday.
Plant closures and redundancies could be part of the outcome and might affect up to
660 workers.
"We're not ruling that out by any means," the spokesman said.
"Neither do we want to say anything that might be construed as though that's a
preconceived outcome."
The affected plants are Simpson and Campbellfield in Victoria; Jervois and Murray
Bridge in South Australia; Kings Meadows, Burnie, King Island and Heidi Farm in
Tasmania; and Malanda in Queensland.
Some of National Foods' cheese brands include Coon, Cracker Barrel King Island Dairy
and Tasmanian Heritage.
"The reality is that we have grown by acquisition over the years and it's just a
sensible thing to do (to review operations) from time to time," the spokesman said.
The group's Allansford cheese manufacturing site in Victoria has already undergone a
review and will not be part of the latest action.
National Foods is owned by the Kirin brewing company of Japan which said its
Australian management had initiated the review.



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