July 22, 2011

Vion to shut down Sheffield site

Vion will close its Sheffield site as part of the restructuring of its sausage processing operations.

The company has yet to confirm how many of the 205 jobs at risk will be made redundant and how many will be transferred to other sites in the north of England.

Operations in Sheffield will be transferred to Vion Hall's in Broxburn, West Lothian, which the company maintains offers potential for further expansion. It cited a challenging trading climate and fierce competition as the reason for the restructuring and said that the Sheffield site had been operating below capacity.

A consultation process is still ongoing for the proposed move of Vion's poultry operations at Thorne in Yorkshire to two sites in Scotland and Wales – a transfer that could lead to the loss of 255 jobs.

Last year, more than 200 jobs were cut at Vion's Welsh Country Foods meat processing plant in Anglesey, while a further 180 jobs were axed at its Haverhill cooked meats plant in Suffolk.