A restructuring plan scheduled to take effect next year at Kraft Foods’ New Ulm plant is expected to result in the loss of an estimated 90 jobs at the Minnesota facility.

Company officials say the move, which will include a $25 million investment in new equipment and infrastructure, could result in the loss of 80 full-time, hourly positions and 10 salaried positions. “Right now, we don’t know how many people will be impacted, and we won’t know for another few months,” says company spokesperson Joyce Hodel.

Under the restructuring, the New Ulm plant’s Velveeta production will move to an Illinois Kraft plant, and the New Ulm plant will begin production of bulk food-service cheese currently being done in a Missouri plant that’s also changing over its production lines.

According to Hodel, the New Ulm plant is the only one of the three that will undergo job reductions in Kraft's effort to consolidate and streamline production facilities.

Source: Mankato Free Press, TwinCities.com