Future of potato processing plant in Idaho unclear
“There are no specific plans at this time for the Aberdeen plant structures,” said David Cuoio, spokesperson for the company.
Simplot officials announced in 2011 that they planned to close plants in Aberdeen and Caldwell in the years ahead as they constructed a new state-of-the-art potato processing facility that would replace the existing plant in Caldwell.
"Competition in the food industry has become challenging, with profit margins shrinking and costs continuing to rise," company president and CEO Bill Whitacre said at that time. "These factors and other considerations have made it important to the future well-being of our food business that we build this new plant."
Aberdeen’s plant closure is expected to eliminate 290 jobs, and 111 of those are held by people living in Aberdeen, said Mayor Morgan Anderson.
Simplot officials did say earlier that they planned to give current employees a chance to apply for positions at the new plant, but they expected to have only about 250 jobs available.
They also planned to provide separation packages, onsite counselling and out-placement services to those who didn’t continue with the company, Simplot officials said at that time.
Source: idahostatejournal.com
