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Vilshofen – kickoff of the construction project to build a new refrigerated warehouse at the slaughterhouse of the VION Food Group in Vilshofen: 'This large-scale construction project should double our existing refrigerated storage capacity. This is a further milestone towards the long-term expansion of the entire site,' said Bernd Stange, head of VION's Business Unit South, the umbrella organisation for VION's southern plants, as the first ground was broken. At the same time the entire logistics for the transport of animals, including the washing of the cattle trucks, is being modernised. 'The investment comes to something of the order of five million euros,' said Stange, underlining the major importance of the project.'A day to celebrate in Vilshofen'
'Even in the present climate of economic difficulty, this shows us sending an important positive signal,' emphasised Hans Auer, Chairman of the Management Board of the Erzeugergemeinschaft für Qualitätsvieh und -fleisch Oberbayern Ost und Niederbayern eG [Producers' Association for Quality Animals and Meat of Upper Bavaria East and Lower Bavaria, Registered Cooperative]. Thanks to the good relations between VION and EG Südostbayern [the Producer's Association of Southeastern Bavaria], the investment also marks a further important step in the direction of maintaining and developing an effective slaughterhouse organisation in Lower Bavaria. Deputy County President Manfred Riedl and Georg Krenn, First Mayor of Vilshofen, hailed the positive implications for the town of Vilshofen and for the industry of the entire region. 'Today is a day to celebrate in Vilshofen,' said Krenn with satisfaction. All the parties involved pointed to the ideally constructive partnership of the town, the district and VION, as a result of which it has been possible to get the project under way as quickly as possible in a spirit of mutual amity.
Significant economic implications
Right from the start, Managing Director Bernd Stange had emphasised the major importance of the Vilshofen plant as an employer and for the local economy. The plant has some 200 employees on its payroll. 'These operational and structural changes herald a new era, and give the plant a new boost,' he said, referring to the amalgamation of the VION slaughterhouses in Vilshofen, Pfarrkirchen and Straubing which was completed last spring. The Pfarrkirchen slaughterhouse only deals with cattle, so all Vilshofen's cattle slaughtering operations have now been transferred there. The Straubing plant continues to be used exclusively for the slaughtering of pigs. It is planned that the cattle slaughtering facilities freed up in Vilshofen will be used to expand the site's pig slaughtering operations. Following restructuring, the aim is for the Vilshofen plant to slaughter between 15,000 and 18,000 pigs a week. 'The investments we have embarked on today at the Vilshofen slaughterhouse will help us to reach this ambitious target,' Mr Stange concluded.
