WALDO, Wis. (AP) — Saputo Inc. will stop making string cheese at its Waldo manufacturing plant by the end of March, which could mean layoffs or job transfers for the plant's 99 employees.
The string cheese operations will be moved and employees may be able to transfer to wherever that may be or to the company's other facilities, said Manon Goudreault, director of communications for Saputo, which is based in Montreal, Quebec.
In 2005, Saputo paid $24.4 million in cash to buy Schneider Cheese, which owned the plant at that time and employed 160 people. Schneider Cheese is now a subsidiary of Saputo.
Goudreault said the Waldo plant would continue to make mozzarella cheese. But the plant was limited in its expansion capacity, so the company decided it was best to move the string cheese operations, she said.
Employees who are laid off will be offered severance packages. She said it will become more clear in the coming weeks how many people will be affected.
The company has 15 plants in the U.S., eight of them in Wisconsin. Besides Waldo, Saputo operates three plants in Fond du Lac, and one each in New London, Lena, Reedsburg and Monroe.
