Modesto Manufacturing Plants to Close, Ending Over 700 Jobs

I've noticed that the food industry has been taking a lot of hits lately. Here the Modesto Bee with the latest:

Dawn Food Products will close its three Modesto manufacturing plants in March, which will cost 265 workers their jobs.

Dawn officials say the closures are part of their corporate plan for "enhancing manufacturing operations and increasing efficiency."

The Michigan-based Dawn and its predecessor, Bunge Foods, have been making frozen cakes, cake mixes and other dry-mix bakery products in Modesto since 1996. Dawn leases 125,000 square feet in three buildings in the Beard Industrial District.

Again, the business reporter fails top ask the corporate flacks the question of how closing factories "enhances manufacturing operations" or "increases efficiency." An idled plant is a subtraction to the bottom line and there is no efficiency to be had. But these particular flacks didn't stop there:

"Dawn will work with our Modesto team members in the coming weeks to provide useful information, tools and resources that will help people move forward," said Michelle Fehr, Dawn's senior vice president of operations for U.S. bakery products. "We remain extremely grateful for the hard work and commitment of all our people during this challenging transition."

Since the business reporter won't do their job, allow me: Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit and more bullshit.

At least the story does attempt to draw somewhat of a bigger picture:

Losing those manufacturing jobs is another blow to Stanislaus County's already weak economy.

Stanislaus' unemployment rate tops 16 percent, and another big food processor, the Patterson Vegetable Co., announced that it planned to go out of business next month. The Patterson closure will eliminate 489 jobs.

Sounds like yet another community that's been pretty hard hit as the slow downward grind of the economy continues.