50 jobs to go

By Paul Dunlop
FIFTY jobs are to be shed from Pakenham’s Nestle factory.
An operational shake-up will see the international food giant cease manufacturing noodles at its Racecourse Road site in favour of new technology at its plant in Malaysia.
Nestle is one of Pakenham’s biggest employers with more than 350 staff.
Yesterday’s (Wednesday) announcement sent shockwaves through the town.
The first redundancies are to occur in December, with more to follow early next year.
Nestle business executive manager of foods Wayne England said it was expected noodle making would cease at Pakenham in early 2008 with the restructure likely to be completed by April.
“We sincerely regret the impact that the phasing out of noodle production will have on staff at Pakenham,” Mr England said.
“The decision is in no way a reflection on the abilities of staff who are affected.”
Factory manager Andrew Nooy told the News staff were still coming to terms with the decision.
Workers and union officials were understood to be in talks with management for much of the day.
Mr Nooy said it was the first time the Pakenham factory had faced redundancies of this magnitude.
Nestle officials said the move followed the development of new technology for producing healthier noodles without any loss of flavour.
The Malaysia site has already installed the plant necessary to produce the new products and will soon have the capacity to supply the Australian and New Zealand markets.
Mr England said it was not feasible to upgrade the noodle production lines at Pakenham to incorporate the new technology.
“We will be seeking to redeploy as many employees as possible but for those who are ultimately made redundant Nestle will provide a redundancy package, job transition help and other support services,” Mr England said.
Mr England said Nestle hoped that a number of the employers affected by the shake-up would leave under the terms of a “generous” voluntary redundancy package.
The Pakenham factory produces 360,000 cakes of Maggi magic noodle per day as well as 50,000 Papa Giuseppe pizzas and about 110,000 Lean Cuisine meals.
Mr Nooy said Nestle remained committed to Pakenham, one of several factories around Victoria. Although the current situation was obviously difficult, it did contain some positives, he said.
“Quite a few people will be quite happy to accept a redundancy package at this stage of their careers and Nestle is certainly investing in Pakenham.”
While noodle production was being phased out, Nestle officials said the company had recently invested more than $6 million at the local factory.
“We intend to continue to manufacture frozen prepared meals at Pakenham and we will continue to investigate opportunities to build our frozen foods business,” Mr England said.