Vion to close sausage processing site
More than 200 jobs are at risk after food manufacturer Vion, which has its UK headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, decided to close one of its sites.
Earlier this year, Vion, a multibillion-pound-turnover business headquartered in the Netherlands, said a proposed restructure of its sausage processing business could result in the transfer of operations to Scotland.
The business has now elected to shut its Sheffield operation.
Currently it is uncertain how many of the 205 employees at the Sheffield site will lose their jobs and how many will be redeployed elsewhere within the business.
Vion said the restructure was required in response to the prevailing economic climate which it described as "extremely challenging" with competition for business "increasingly fierce".
The Sheffield and Broxburn site in Scotland were both under-utilised, according to Vion, and operating significantly below capacity. However, the Broxburn site could accommodate all of Sheffield’s production, as well as offer the potential for further expansion in the years ahead – a fact which triggered the demise of the Sheffield plant.
The company employs 27,000 people worldwide and as part of a consultation period is investigating the possibility of workers moving or transferring to other sites in the north of England.
