NEW YORK — As Kraft Heinz Co. prepares to shutter its Upper Macungie Township plant this summer, the local manufacturing of on-demand coffee products for Tassimo will shift out of the country.
Kraft Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen said the company has already moved two Tassimo lines to its facility in Canada and is continuing to move additional production lines there from the Lehigh Valley.
“We made the decision to bring our Tassimo coffee line closer to its primary consumption base in Canada,” Mullen said.
Because of its decision to shift work out of the country, Mullen said Kraft Heinz is helping its Lehigh Valley employees directly affected by the change to file for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which provides benefits and support to workers who lose their jobs due to the impact of international trade. Those potential benefits include job training, income support, job search and relocation allowances.
Of the local Kraft Heinz plant’s remaining 350 full-time employees, fewer than 100 are directly associated with the Tassimo coffee line, Mullen said.
The petition for TAA, filed late last month by three Kraft Heinz workers, is listed online as under investigation until the U.S. Labor Department makes a determination to certify or deny the petition.
Of the local Kraft Heinz plant’s remaining 350 full-time employees, fewer than 100 are directly associated with the Tassimo coffee line, Mullen said.
The petition for TAA, filed late last month by three Kraft Heinz workers, is listed online as under investigation until the U.S. Labor Department makes a determination to certify or deny the petition.
In addition to coffee products for Tassimo, the local plant, a 907,610-square-foot facility that sits on a 92-acre site at 7352 Industrial Blvd., makes A.1. Steak Sauce and Grey Poupon mustard.
Kraft Heinz has already found a home for the mustard production. Mullen confirmed the local plant’s production of Grey Poupon will be shifting to an existing plant in Michigan, which is expected to receive $17.2 million in investment and create 50 more jobs.
He declined to disclose where the local production of A.1. would shift. But Mullen did say Kraft Heinz is moving its Lehigh Valley production to existing facilities in Canada, Michigan and Illinois.
He declined to disclose where the local production of A.1. would shift. But Mullen did say Kraft Heinz is moving its Lehigh Valley production to existing facilities in Canada, Michigan and Illinois.
Mullen also stressed that Kraft Heinz is not moving all of its coffee production lines to Canada. He noted that the company produces most of its coffee lines, including McCafe, Maxwell House, Gevalia and Yuban, in Jacksonville, Fla.
Following a review of the Kraft Heinz North American supply chain footprint, capabilities and capacity, the company in early November announced it would close its Lehigh Valley facility and six others in the United States and Canada over the next 12 to 24 months as part of a downsizing that will shed 2,600 jobs.
Kraft Heinz, the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, has been cutting costs since the merger of Kraft and H.J. Heinz closed last July. While announcing better-than-expected quarterly profit earlier this month, Kraft Heinz said it achieved cost savings of about $225 million in the first quarter and is on pace to fully realize $1.5 billion in savings in 2017.
Kraft Heinz also is trying to sell its Upper Macungie plant, which opened in 1972. While an online listing for the plant says the facility is available July 1, Mullen said Kraft Heinz plans to exit the factory this summer, which allows the company “flexibility in transitioning all production lines.”
