Pinnacle Foods Group is to close its Nalley’s chili production site in Washington state as the US company rejigs its manufacturing network after last year’s acquisition of Birds Eye Foods.
The Nalley’s plant in the Washington town of Tacoma will close and see its production move to Pinnacle’s Armour canned meat plant in Iowa.
Pinnacle said its acquisition of Birds Eye Foods last December left the company with two meat canning plants “producing similar products, with excess production capacity”. The site in Fort Madison, Iowa, “has the best production capabilities and is geographically situated closer to the source of ingredients”, Pinnacle explained on Friday (3 December).
The company plans to invest around US$20m in the switch, which will add a 17,000 square food extension to the Fort Madison facility and create approximately 65 jobs.
However, Pinnacle said some 160 jobs will be lost with the closure of the Tacoma facility, which produces Nalley’s Chili and Brooks Beans.
Pinnacle added that the move is contingent upon the final approval of state and local incentives in Iowa. The closure of the Nalley’s site and expansion of the Tacoma plant are expected to be completed next year.
