SOLON, Ohio — Nestle USA announced today that it is moving 300 technical, production and supply chain jobs to the Solon plant as part of the company’s plan to relocate its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, from Glendale, California.
“Employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate, and if they choose relocation they can,” said Roz O’Hearn, a spokeswoman for Nestle. “But if they choose not to relocate, we will recruit locally.”
The job relocations have already and will be complete by the end of 2018, O’Hearn said.
The company wants the jobs to be closer to its USA factories, considering 75 percent are located on the eastern half of the U.S. and the Midwest is more central.
“We’re experiencing one of the most profound shifts in how people eat, shop and engage with brands right now. To address the ever-changing landscape, we’re striving to make our products healthier and tastier, using unmatched R&D capability, nutrition science and passion for quality in everything we do,” Nestle USA chairman and CEO Paul Grimwood, said in a written statement.
“The moves announced today are designed to allow us to work even smarter, fueling growth for our bright future, and we’re pleased to continue that growth and investment here in Ohio and in Solon, where both Governor John Kasich and Mayor Susan Drucker have welcomed our efforts.”
Nestle worked closely with JobsOhio, Team NEO and the City of Solon to facilitate its continued growth in the state.
While the 60-acre Solon campus is referred to as the Center of Excellence for the Nestle frozen and chilled foods businesses, Nestle also has other businesses and functions in the city that provide employment to more than 2,000 people, with an annual payroll of about $84.5 million.
Nestle employs nearly 3,600 throughout Ohio, in several locations. In Dublin, the company recently completed a $31 million investment in its Nestle Quality Assurance Center, the largest and most sophisticated testing facility in the Nestle network and possibly the world. More than 220 chemists, microbiologists, food scientists, quality specialists and support staff offer specialized laboratory services, factory hygiene and food safety systems around the clock to Nestle production facilities throughout the Americas.
Aaron Pitts, managing director of JobsOhio, applauds the company’s increasing commitment to the state. He said the company went from purchasing Stouffer’s in the early 1970s and just having office locations, to bringing 334 jobs to the state in 2012 to manage the company’s pizza brand. The following year Nestle announced plans to open a $50 million research and development plant in Solon that opened last year.
Meanwhile, he said, the Dublin plant is the company’s most advanced food testing laboratory.
“They’re the largest global food manufacturer, so that’s pretty impressive,” Pitts said. “Then last August they came to us and said, here’s what we’re thinking about doing. It’s competitive. But we see an opportunity to grow from the Solon base… Any state or city would love to have professional jobs in their area.
“We’re thrilled that they’ve made yet another commitment to the Solon campus,” Pitts said. “They’re the epitome of a class organization … creating shared value is really a mantra that they live by.”
The Solon campus is located near the intersection of Harper and Bainbridge roads. The Harper Road Building, which opened in 1969, is undergoing a complete renovation. The “smart office” will feature open-space workstations with natural lighting, and informal as well as formal meeting spaces designed to foster enhanced communication and collaboration. The office building is adjacent to the Nestle production facility where frozen meals are made by more than 850 employees, one of four similar facilities strategically placed across the U.S. to allow fast delivery to retail customers, the company reported.
Nestle also manages a lot of well-known brands at this location. They include Stouffer’s(r) and Lean Cuisine(r) freshly made, simply frozen meals, whose roots are in Cleveland.
The Stouffer’s brand traces its history to 1922 when the Stouffer family entered the restaurant business. When patrons in the 1950s began requesting menu items from the suburban Shaker Square restaurant be frozen to “take home,” the Stouffer family found themselves in the frozen food business. In 1968, the Solon production facility was built and in 1973, Nestle S.A. acquired the business.
Later, in 1981, with the aid of Nestle resources, Lean Cuisine was launched. Both of brands remain leaders in their categories today. Additional brands managed from Solon include Buitoni(r) refrigerated pastas and sauces; DiGiorno(r), California Pizza Kitchen(r), Tombstone(r), and Jack’s(r) frozen pizzas — which arrived on the campus in 2014.
“We are thrilled with Nestle USA’s announcement to move their technical and production organization and all of their supply chain teams to Solon,” said Mayor Susan Drucker.
“The city appreciates the great working Akcebet relationship we have with Nestle and we are pleased that Nestle continues to show strong confidence and commitment to our city. We look forward to welcoming the 300-plus new Nestle employees to Solon and continuing our partnership into the future.”
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