The closure of the factory, part of Lion’s dairy and drinks division, was first announced in 2011 but its operations were downsized in the interim rather than a complete shutdown imposed.

National Union of Workers (NUW) western districts organiser Darren Stiles said another 14 NUW members, some of whom worked in packaging, would finish up at the plant by early January. 

In recent years the factory has focused on producing parmesan and romano hard cheese, but previously it also made the pepato semi-hard and pecorino hard cheeses — some of which have won national awards.

Lion is transferring  cheese production to its factory in Burnie in Tasmania.

At its peak, the Simpson factory employed about 120 workers. 

There have been about three job-shedding phases since 2011.

Many of the workers who will finish today have long periods of service at the factory — some working there for about 35 years. Mr Stiles said the redundancy payments gained for the departing workers were among “the best redundancy payouts in the industry”.

He said the workers had fought hard for better redundancy provisions for many years and would now reap the benefit.

Mr Stiles said up to five of the departing workers intended to retire.

He said Lion had “tried to do the right thing” by the workers and had put many through retraining courses.

Mr Stiles said Lion leased the factory from Warrnambool Cheese and Butter (WCB) and he hoped the Allansford company would find a new use for the site.

He hoped the workers made redundant might find work in the expanding dairy processing industry at Camperdown, where Camperdown Dairy International is building a milk powder plant and Camperdown Dairy is expanding its operations.

He also hoped Fonterra would restart operations in the near future at the dairy processing plant in Cobden, which National Foods pulled out of in 2010. 

The Simpson factory’s present operators, Lion Dairy and Drinks, is part of the Japanese-owned Kirin Holdings.

Other operators on the site have included National Foods and Kraft.