Slovenia: Pivovarna Lasko Union to relocate production of its Union beer to Lasko factory from Ljubljana

The Slovenian unit of Dutch brewer Heineken, Pivovarna Lasko Union (PLU), plans to relocate the production of the Union beer to its Lasko factory from Ljubljana by January 2022, See News reported on October 27.

The decision is the result of a preventive independent safety assessment of the 35-year-old refrigeration system at the Union Brewery in Ljubljana, which showed that it is no longer suitable for operation and could pose a significant safety risk in the future, PLU said in a statement earlier this week.

The packaging and logistics activities of Union beer will remain at Union Brewery, while the production of soft drinks and water and the administrative and corporate functions do not change their location, the same applies to the Union Pub and the Union Experience Museum, PLU said.

"Due to the complexity of the processes, we do not yet know exactly how many employees this change will have an impact on. We will look for all possibilities to mitigate these effects - re-employment in other organisational units, possibly in Lasko, possible early retirement schemes," communications manager Alenka Rozman said in a video file posted on the website of public broadcaster RTV Slovenia on October 26.

The Ljubljana site currently employs 145 people and 18 of them are working in the field of brewing and fermentation, which is moving to Lasko, Rozman said.

The net profit of PLU declined to 16.7 million euro ($19.4 million) in 2020 from 24.4 million euro a year earlier, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

27 October, 2021