Canada-based Maple Leaf Foods Inc. closed its wiener production facility on Brockley Road in Hamilton, Canada, and transferred production to its new prepared meats facility, also in Hamilton.

"We are in the final phase of completing a transformation of our prepared meats network," says Michael McCain, president and CEO. "We have established world-class facilities and technologies to step-change our profitability and competitiveness. This year, the focus is on shifting production to these new facilities, closing legacy plants and realizing related cost and productivity gains. We are doing this in a way that is respectful of our people and provides them ongoing employment opportunities wherever possible. A low-cost, highly efficient network will provide a strong platform for growth and support Canada's broader agrifood sector."

Maple Leaf Foods has produced wieners at the leased Brockley Road plant since 1994. Approximately 88% of the plant's workforce of 213 people were provided employment at the new Heritage facility in Hamilton.

To date, the commissioning of the Heritage facility has been successful and on schedule. The company is focused on transferring production from four other plants over the remainder of 2014, which will subsequently close and continue to ramp up both wiener and sliced meats production at the new facility. The new plant is said to be the largest and most technologically advantaged plants of its kind in North America.