FDBusiness.com

Mondelēz International, a world leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages, is to invest more than $130 million in its North American biscuits business, as the company continues its journey to modernize its manufacturing assets and processes and create a global best-in-class integrated supply chain. This investment will fund the installation of four state-of-the-art manufacturing lines – “Lines of the Future” – at the company’s Americas production facility in Salinas, Mexico, which opened late last year. This investment in these Lines of the Future will be completed by mid-2016 and will replace nine older, inefficient manufacturing lines at its Chicago biscuit plant.

The move builds on the company’s earlier manufacturing investments of more than $170 million in manufacturing lines at its US biscuit plants in Fair Lawn, Naperville and Richmond, as well as additional investments in recent years in technologies and capabilities within its North American supply chain.

“This new investment is part of our ongoing supply chain reinvention plan, as we implement several initiatives around the world to transform our global manufacturing processes to accelerate growth, reduce costs and improve productivity,” says Daniel Myers, EVP, Integrated Supply Chain. “These investments will enable a significant percentage of our global Power Brands to be produced on advantaged assets and are key contributors to our overall margin improvement.”