Meat&Poultry - June 2012 - 42

Staying competitive
BY LEO QUIGLEY
meatpoultry@sosland.com

M

aple Leaf Foods, as with many other food companies north of

cilities; the construction of a high-efficiency, prepared meats plant in Hamilton, Ontario, and expanded plants in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba and Brampton, Ontario. The company also said it would be investing in preparation, cooking and packaging efficiencies that would “reach world-class levels.” And, these new technologies would “enhance product quality and food safety.” (In 2008, products from a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto was linked as the source of a Listeriosis outbreak that killed 22 people and infected 57 others). In addition to consolidating its processing network and building new facilities, the company also has plans to change its distribution network by consolidating several distribution centers into two large facilities, expanding the existing facility in Western Canada and building a new distribution center in Eastern Canada These changes, scheduled to be in place by the end of 2014, are expected to deliver the following savings: ● Enhanced throughput and productivity. ● Improved product yield; reduced waste. ● Lower aggregate plant overhead. ● Longer runs and fewer changeovers. ● Less packaging and raw material cost. ● Increased distribution and storage efficiency.

● Reduced selling, general and administrative expenses. To assist Canada’s meat industry in becoming more competitive, the federal government, as part of its Economic Action Plan, designated C$60 million over a three-year period to the meat-processing industry. The program “provides repayable contributions available to support investments made by the private sector and other levels of government in sound business plans aimed at reducing costs, increasing revenues and improving meat packing and processing operations nationwide.” Of this, C$4.5 million in repayable funds were contributed to upgrade Maple Leaf Foods’ ham and bacon plant in Winnipeg and its hog processing plant in Brandon, Manitoba. “Upgrades to its Manitoba facilities will help Maple Leaf boost productivity and production capacity to fi ll new market opportunities, which in turn will increase the demand for producers’ high-quality swine,” federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in making the announcement. The funds, provided to cover up to 50 percent of eligible costs, were earmarked to help Maple Leaf buy and install new line processing heat recovery and packaging equipment and install new value-added production lines. However, while the federal government seemed eager to assist Maple Leaf in making its network across Canada more competitive, the government of Manitoba – with the most to gain –

the border, faces increased competition from US food processors, primarily due to the drop in the US dollar compared to the Canadian dollar. In a recent move to make the company more competitive in the North American marketplace, Maple Leaf Foods has adopted a nationwide plan involving plant consolidations, new builds, closures of outdated facilities and upgrades to remaining facilities. Late last year, Maple Leaf executives outlined elements of the plan’s fi nal phase to investors, calling the long-term strategy a “response to a structural shift in currency” designed to transform the firm’s prepared meats network, establish efficient centers of

Canadian plants must operate at least two shifts in order to stay competitive compared to plants in the US and around the world.
excellence equipped with state-of-theart technologies and create a “sustainable competitive cost base.” As part of the final stage, the company said it would be rationalizing the existing system into Centers of Excellence, including the closure of six plants, plus two already completed, with volume consolidated into four fa-

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Meat&Poultry - June 2012

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