Job cuts likely at Goodman Fielder

By DITA DE BONI marketing writer

Transtasman food concern Goodman Fielder has not ruled out further local job losses as a result of a new business structure announced yesterday.

The New Zealand arm, employing around 3500, plans to blend its three divisions - Milling and Baking, Bluebird Foods and Meadow Lea Foods - into one and run the business along four main marketing categories, defined as Baked, Snacks, Meals and Spreads.

The streamlining is likely to see some middle to high positions change or disappear as operations are simplified and centralised.

Yesterday the company was refusing to talk numbers, saying staff would be consulted and any affected would be "provided with substantial support."

The same words were used last year when the company moved to cut 100 local milling jobs in Operation Jupiter, the name given to its Australasian milling review.

While the latest belt-tightening may not be the best news for some employees, the company is confident the outcome for remaining staff and clients will be more efficiency.

New Zealand managing director Ron Vela says creating a single national food business with sales of over $700 million will help build category growth, increase sales and strengthen trade relationships.

"Limited resources are a big part of it, too. It's tougher in business now. [We] have to concentrate resources - whether people, brands or money - in a more focused way. And that should give more effective and focused delivery."

He says separately functioning businesses can hamper growth. "We are the biggest [retail branded food business in New Zealand] but we don't operate as the biggest food company, the one with the best understanding of the consumer, because [we] have all those divisional lenses across the business."

Along with establishing a single management team to oversee all New Zealand operations from Goodman Fielder House in East Tamaki, the company aims to align manufacturing processes across 25 sites, although Mr Vela says that there are no plans to rationalise manufacturing lines at present.

The New Zealand division of Goodman Fielder, representing around 17 per cent of sales but around 26 per cent of profit in the total transtasman business, was just one area the company earmarked for change in its long-awaited strategic review.

The review has also seen it combine huge retail brands Meadow Lea and Uncle Toby's in Australia, a focus on so-called "power brands," a multimillion-dollar investment in technology and the disposal of ingredients businesses.

Shares closed yesterday unchanged at $1.58.