Johnsonville has announced it will shut down its Momence, Ill., processing plant, shifting production and jobs to other facilities in its network, including a significant number of positions to one of its Wisconsin plants.
The closure of the Momence facility, which was built more than 60 years ago and has been producing Johnsonville products since 1995, will result in 274 job losses, as the company adjusts to optimize its fresh sausage operations. In a statement, the company noted it would add about 100 jobs in Wisconsin, supporting the additional operations in Watertown and Sheboygan Falls.
Watertown will add a second shift and 75 workers as a result, with Sheboygan Falls getting the remaining positions in Wisconsin. Johnsonville also announced it will make “significant capital equipment investments” in the Meadowside and Riverside production facilities on the Sheboygan Falls campus, adding capacity to address current and future demand for fully cooked sausage products.
Johnsonville’s Kansas operations are also expected to absorb some of the Momence volume. The company will transfer some of the equipment and assets from Momence to other locations, and it expects to demolish the facility by the end of 2025.
About the Author
Andy Hanacek
Senior Editor
Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.