Smithfield Packing Co to close Florida plant

Smithfield Packing Co plans to cease production at its Madison FL facility. This process will conclude no later than Oct 31, 2006, and will affect 486 employees.

The subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc also plans to consolidate processed meats operations from its two Smithfield VA facilities into a single operation. The plant consolidation in Smithfield could affect up to 125 people. The company is working with union officials regarding affected employees.

“We started a process 18 months ago to ensure that we have efficient manufacturing infrastructure to support our sales plans and strategy,” said Joseph W Luter IV, president of Smithfield Packing. “With new manufacturing capacity coming on line in Kinston NC, in several months, we are shifting operations among other plants to meet these plans. We acquired the Madison facility in September 2004 and have struggled to run it efficiently or profitably from the beginning.”