News Milk
A-ware cannot make Olympia profitable and closes factory
Royal A-ware is closing the Olympia dairy factory in Pajottegem, Belgium. In 2022, the Dutch dairy processor acquired Olympia, but it has not been able to make the company profitable.
Olympia has been writing red figures since 2018. With the takeover in September 2022, Royal A-ware Food Group prevented the closure of Olympia, the dairy producer reports in a press release. At the time, A-ware CEO Jan Anker was still positive about the future of the family business: "Olympia's dairy products have traditionally been a household name in Belgium and are known for their good quality. Thanks to the investment program of the Huygh family, Olympia has been significantly modernized in recent years and is ready for further growth."
Installations and infrastructure are outdated
Practice proved to be more difficult. According to A-ware, it invested in the maintenance of the installations and adjusted the organizational structure to increase efficiency and improve processes. "However, too many of the installations and infrastructure are so outdated that complete new construction is needed to meet current and future efficiency and quality requirements," according to A-ware. "The investments that this requires are not economically justifiable."
The dairy processor sees no possibility to make Olympia profitable and to continue the activities at the location in Pajottegem. Today (6 May) this was communicated to the works council and employees. Consultations with them and with the unions will take place in the coming period. No further information will be provided during this time. According to the website of Olympia, 188 people work permanently and thirty temporarily at the company.
The (according to the Olympia website) 67 million litres of milk collected from 169 in the provinces of Flemish and Walloon Brabant, East Flanders, Hainaut and Namur is distributed among the other locations that A-ware has in Belgium.
Linda van Eekeres
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