General Mills Inc. is eliminating another 700 to 800 jobs as part of a big cost-cutting effort, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The layoffs were announced less than two weeks after the packaged-food giant posted a bleak fourth quarter and announced two plant closings.

Impacted by weak sales, Golden Valley, MN-based General Mills revealed the job cuts late Tuesday, Sept. 30, in a filing with federal securities regulators. The layoffs primarily will be in the United States, the filing said. General Mills employs about 5,000 in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, mostly in white-collar positions.

General Mills spokeswoman Kirstie Foster said in an e-mail that the new cuts include “salaried positions in General Mills’ U.S. businesses, and the functions and groups that support those businesses.” She added that the company didn’t yet know how jobs in Minnesota would be affected.

The 700 to 800 job cuts will be completed by next spring and will lead to annual cost savings of $125 million to $150 million, according to the securities filing. Tuesday’s moves include $40 million of the $140 million in cuts that General Mills has announced in recent months.

The company reiterated on Sept. 17 that it is undertaking a “formal review” of its North American manufacturing operations and distribution network. A day later, General Mills announced the closing of a cereal plant in Lodi, CA, and a yogurt factory in Methuen, MA, laying off 430 and 144 workers, respectively.

The manufacturing and distribution cuts are part of General Mills’ “Project Century,” a formal review of its North American manufacturing and distribution network. The job reductions disclosed Tuesday are part of “Project Catalyst,” a restructuring plan “designed to increase organizational effectiveness and reduce overhead expense,” the company said in a federal securities filing.

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune