will close its facility in Broadmeadows, Victoria, as of 31 March 2006.
The facility employs 151 people.
The closure of the biscuits facility, built in 1964, is a result of an ongoing company wide business review.
The review is looking at how the company can accelerate its competitiveness in the Australian food industry, through improvements and optimization across all key activities, and in line with Kraft’s global vision for sustainable growth.
The company said that since the acquisition of the business in 2002, it had worked to improve the performance of the Broadmeadows facility, safety of employees and quality of products whilst reducing costs.
“The review has shown that the facility lacks scale and manufacturing costs remain too high for the facility to remain sustainable within the highly competitive biscuits category,” the company said.
Kraft will move manufacturing of biscuits, including brands such as In A Biskit, Premium, and Captain’s Table, to a regional facility in China and outsource the distribution of biscuits in Australia to a third party logistics provider.
“This is the right decision for the business overall and has only been taken after a thorough analysis,” Kraft Foods vice president and area director for Australia/NZ Chris Bell said.
“Kraft is especially mindful of the impact this decision will have on our employees, as we greatly value the support that all our employees give to Kraft Foods Australia.
“We will ensure that all affected Broadmeadows employees are given access to every support during this difficult period, and they are guaranteed to be paid their appropriate entitlements, including a redundancy package.
“Employees will also have access to comprehensive career transition support services.”