Tetra Pak Plans To Relocate From Wrexham To Chester

Tetra Pak has today informed employees of plans to move from its current site in Wrexham to a new location – possibly in the Chester area – before the end of the year.

The company, founded in Sweden more than 50 years ago, produces cartons and packs for milk and juices.

Local AM Ken Skates has said: “I’m very disappointed indeed to hear the news that the Tetra Pak site in Wrexham is to close and that the company will be moving to another location in Chester.”

“The closure of the plant is a big blow to the area and I will be pressing the management firmly to ensure that every worker is offered the opportunity to continue their employment with the company.”

“Tetra Pak has been in the area for over thirty years and in that time have provided good quality jobs for local people. However of late they have stripped investment, focus and vital manufacturing functions away from the Wrexham site which sadly makes today’s announcement an inevitability.”

“I’m disappointed in Tetra Pak. They have had the support and assistance of the local community over the last three decades and have been ably served by a skilled and committed workforce.”

“I will be working with the Welsh Government and others to ensure that we look carefully at the future uses of the site so that we can bring fresh jobs and new investment to the local area.”

Tetra Pak have said “We will be moving to offices more suited to our current and future needs. Our current 25 acre site was designed to house a manufacturing operation and the office buildings alone cover three times as much space as we now need. We also anticipate that modern and bespoke offices would carry less than half the costs of our current site.”

“We propose to outsource our finished goods distribution centre to a third-party distribution specialist. This will be more cost-effective than running the operation in-house”

“Subject to consultation, we anticipate we would move the distribution service to our selected partner by no later than the end of September 2013. Employees within the distribution centre would automatically transfer to the selected supplier at that point. We will discuss all issues involved in this move during the consultation process.”

Speaking about the proposals, Steve Wyatt, Managing Director for Tetra Pak Limited, UK and Ireland, stated: “We are operating in a rapidly changing business environment, where competition is
increasing. We need to ensure we compete more effectively, whilst continuing to deliver high-quality customer service.”

“We need an office building more suited to our needs and are actively exploring sites in the local area. We hope to be able to confirm our new location soon.”

“Our proposal to outsource the distribution centre is no reflection on the excellent work the employees who work there have done. We will give affected employees extensive information and support”.

One Wrexham.com reader mentioned that her father worked for Tetra Pak and will not know for another month where it is being moved to.

(Pics – from when we popped to Tetra Pak today)