ALTOONA, Iowa — Another Iowa food processing plant is shutting its doors, just days after Tyson Foods closed its plant in Perry for good.
Smithfield Foods plans to close its Altoona ham-boning facility to improve manufacturing efficiency, the company said in a press release. The company plans to close the plant at the end of August, but did not indicate a specific date.
A total of 319 employees will be affected by the closure. Smithfield plans to meet individually with employees to discuss severance and employment opportunities at other company facilities. Currently, Smithfield employs nearly 4,000 people in Iowa across its farms and food processing facilities.
“We appreciate the good work our Altoona employees have done over the years and are committed to supporting every employee through this transition,” said Doug Sutton, chief manufacturing officer for Smithfield Foods. “We have been successful in retaining many of our people in positions with Smithfield during previous consolidations and will provide information about opportunities at other Smithfield locations.”
State Sen. Nate Boulton, who represents Iowa Senate District 20 encompassing Altoona, released a statement in response to the closure, writing in part, "My thoughts go out to the 300 workers who will be losing their jobs when Smithfield closes its operations in Altoona. These men and women work in important roles supporting our state’s agricultural economy, and we will be working with them to make sure we take care of them the best way we can."
The layoffs have been listed via Iowa's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) website.
Smithfield's announcement comes as Iowa has already seen a number of mass layoffs at companies such as Tyson Foods, John Deere and Bridgestone.