Maple Leaf Foods Inc. issued a lengthy statement today to
counter rumours of difficulties transitioning from old meat-processing plants
it’s closing to its new facility in Hamilton.
There are rumours that some of the new lines at Hamilton
have had serious equipment issues, possibly because of faulty maintenance. Two
lines of equipment have already had some replacements, according to the
rumours.
The transition from “Red Hots” wieners made at the Schneider
plant in Kitchener has also hit snags, mainly because the Schneider process
involved smoking the wieners while Maple Leaf’s new plan was to use colouring.
The colouring washed off, according to the rumours, leaving a backlog on
orders.
The Schneider plant on Courtland Avenue in Kitchener was due
to close at the end of the year. Now it’s been delayed to the end of March.
In its statement, Maple Leaf says:
The expanded Lagimodiere plant in Winnipeg,
Manitoba is fully commissioned with only minor optimization remaining;
The McLeod plant in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is
in the final stages of transition and while not yet operating to expectations,
performance is improving and variances are not material to achieving the
Company's overall strategic targets;
The consolidation of the eastern distribution
network is complete and achieving its targets;
The expanded Walker Drive facility in Brampton,
Ontario is fully commissioned with only minor optimization remaining;
Strategic capital spending is complete (with
the exception of performance guarantee holdbacks and cash flow timing) and
total capital spending over this period of investment is largely in-line with
2010 estimates;
Wiener production at the new facility in
Hamilton, Ontario is nearly fully commissioned with minor adjustments expected
to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
Commissioning of the
final sliced meats and deli operations is well underway, and based on current
operating performance trend lines, is expected to achieve full production by
the end of the first quarter;
·
The processing plant on Panet Road in Winnipeg
will close December 31, the sixth of eight plant closures.
At the two remaining
legacy facilities in Kitchener, Ontario and Toronto, production has
significantly ramped down.
While some capacity will be maintained to ensure the
Company meets its commercial requirements, these plants are expected to close
by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
The company says that in the past
four years, it has closed five plants, expanded three others, consolidated 17
distribution centres into two and built a 400,000 square foot state-of the-art
processing facility in Hamilton.
On of the two new distribution centres
is near Highways 401 and 6 south of Guelph.
“ To enable this transition, the company
simultaneously simplified its product portfolio to realize scale efficiencies
and moved from multiple operating systems to one integrated platform,” the
statement says.
