Mondelez bakeries, which makes Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, and Cadbury chocolates, has announced yet another round of layoffs at its Chicago bakery. The company is enlarging its Mexico facilities as it closes nine bakery lines in the Windy City, some of which have been operating for 60 years. The company has been cutting costs since its 2012 separation from Kraft Foods’ grocery business. The goal is to reduce costs by at least $1.5 billion by the end of 2018.
In 2013, Mondelez said its cost-cutting strategies included outsourcing white-collar jobs to countries where labor was less costly, shutting down old plants and bakery lines, improving plants in less costly areas, and corporate reorganization. By 2015 the company had already reduced its work force from an estimated 107,000 employees to 104,000. Mondelez says changing customer interests in pre-packaged foods, rising U.S. costs, and cheaper foreign labor costs are at the root of the changes. CONTINUE
