Fifty workers from Cadbury’s Hobart factory will lose their jobs as the chocolate maker spends $75 million to upgrade the facility.
The job losses represent more than 10 per cent of its Hobart workforce. The company’s parent Mondelez said in a statement most of the job losses, which will happen before the end of the year, are likely to be voluntary redundancies.
“Our team here has worked hard to help us become more efficient, cut costs and improve our competitiveness and as a result, we’ve reduced the cost of converting raw materials into a block of chocolate by 12 per cent,” said Amanda Banfield, Area Vice President.
“But while progress has been made, increasing local and global competition, low domestic growth, rising costs, and Australia’s distance from overseas markets make it difficult to compete against the likes of European factories with lower costs.
“To remain competitive, we need to improve our conversion costs by 30 per cent, plus continue to raise the bar as competition increases further.”
The company said it will realise more efficiencies through investment in new technologies, equipment and automation, plus increase the skills and capabilities of its people and ensure its teams are the right size.
The $75 million upgrade will take place over the next 18 months.