MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills’ cost-cutting efforts continue in full force, as the Minneapolis-based company said it will shutter two more plants over the next three years.
The company plans to close its manufacturing facility in West Chicago, Ill., by mid-2017. The decision to close the facility is “preliminary,” the company said, as negotiations continue with union officials.
The West Chicago plant makes cereal, meals and snack products, and has been operated by General Mills since 1959. The closing would affect approximately 500 jobs.
General Mills also said it plans to close one of its two facilities in Joplin, Mo. The company intends to close its manufacturing plant on Junge Boulevard by the end of this year, but will keep its plant on Stephens Boulevard open.
Generals Mills has operated the Junge Boulevard facility, which makes snack products, since 2014. The decision to close the plant would affect approximately 120 jobs, General Mills said.
In total, General Mills said it expects to take about $81 million in charges during fiscal 2016 as a result of the closings.
The planned closings follow the company’s announcement in January that it would close two Pillsbury dough facilities in Midland, Ont., and New Albany, Ind., part of a plan to make sweeping cost-cuts. In June, the company unveiled plans to cut 675 to 725 positions abroad.
