Madison’s famed Oscar Mayer plant will close within the next one to two years, leading to the loss of nearly 1,200 jobs in Madison and the surrounding area.
The Kraft Heinz Company, which owns the Oscar Mayer processed meat brand, announced the decision Wednesday, which includes the closure of plants in six other cities nationwide. Overall, North American factory employees will decrease by 2,600.
Additionally, Oscar Mayer’s corporate headquarters will move from Madison to Chicago.
“Our decision to consolidate manufacturing across the Kraft Heinz North American network is a critical step in our plan to eliminate excess capacity,” Kraft Heinz spokesperson Michael Mullen said in a statement. “This will make Kraft Heinz more globally competitive and accelerate the company’s future growth.”
In March, Kraft Foods and Heinz formed a $46 billion merger of the two companies to create Kraft Heinz.
“Kraft Heinz fully appreciates and regrets the impact our decision will have on employees, their families and the communities in which these facilities are located,” Mullen added.
City and county officials reacted swiftly to the decision and emphasized the need to help workers retain employment once the plant shuts down.
“Our main focus right now is the workers, their employees and related businesses that are dependent on the vitality of this operation,” said Madison Mayor Paul Soglin. “The impact on Madison and the metro area has got to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Pat Schramm, the executive director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, said the state’s healthy economy should help workers.
“There’s never been a better time for this to happen, because all the relationships are in place to make the transition as quickly as possible,” she said.
Soglin said federal funds will be available to create a rapid response team to assess the workers’ skills and prepare them for job fairs.
A plant in Davenport, Iowa, will relocate to another area of the city, though Soglin said he is not aware of any relation of those plans to the closing of the Madison plant.
The Madison plant opened in 1919, and currently sits on the city’s east side near the Dane County Regional Airport.
