Arla management shake-up leads to 500 job losses
The head of Arla Foods UK is changing as part of a structural shake-up which will also result in the loss of 500 jobs across the global business.
Peter Giørtz-Carlsen, who leads the UK market, is to take on a new role as head of Europe and Tomas Pietrangeli, who heads up the Danish market, will succeed Peter in the UK from 1 March.
A statement from Arla said the reorganisation would enable the business to deliver on its growth strategy for 2020.
See also: Arla farmers to grow milk volumes by 17% by 2020
The new structure would create a simpler, “more agile” organisation, which would allow faster decision-making, and reduce duplication across countries in functions such as finance and human resources, it added.
A spokesman for the co-op, which has more than 3,000 members in the UK, said the job losses would be across the whole global business and should not affect UK producers at a farm level.
A consultation process with potentially affected employees will start shortly, and it is likely that changes will be confirmed by mid-March.
Mr Giørtz-Carlsen, executive vice-president, Arla Foods UK said: “This strategic reorganisation will allow our UK business to become more agile and responsive to the dynamic nature of the market.
“We have strengthened the UK business significantly in 2015 with the growth of our own label and branded volumes in all dairy categories, launched the Arla brand and driven cost efficiencies.
“We now need to take the next step which will be to structure our business to capture the full benefits of our global scale”
Peter Giørtz-Carlsen, Arla Foods UK
“We now need to take the next step which will be to structure our business to capture the full benefits of our global scale.
“It’s unfortunate that a number of roles will be impacted and we will work closely with our colleagues over the coming months to minimise the effect that these changes will have on our people.”
Arla’s growth strategy is to grow its business in eight categories, across Europe, the Middle East, China, Russia, Nigeria and the US, with the marketing and branding of products becoming more global.