Factory opening projected next fall
Beech-Nut execs show off new siteBy KERRY McAVOY / The Leader-Herald
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FLORIDA - The new Hero/Beech-Nut manufacturing plant and headquarters is less than a year from being operational at the Florida Business Park.
Company officials said during a media tour Tuesday they were marking it as the start of a 365-day countdown to opening the baby-food manufacturing facility.
The building is still a skeleton, with a massive foundation and steel beams installed at the site, with enough cleared land to fit five football fields.
Hero/Beech-Nut President and CEO Christoph Rudolf said the company plans to open the facility in October 2009 and start production at the site the following month.
"The project will be fully on time and on schedule," Rudolf said. The project also will come in under budget if the weather cooperates in the next few weeks, he said.
Even with the rain delays this summer, Vice President Edouard Feller said, the company is making progress. He said roofing is expected to start this week, and the site has been blasted and topsoiled to prepare for the construction.
"It's extraordinary to see where we are today," Feller said.
The company broke ground on the 550,000-square-foot, $124 million facility May 21.
Beech-Nut officials said the project is using recycling materials, creating wetlands and using a variety of energy-saving techniques, including machines that will use as little water as possible during production.
The company is creating a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Energy Design-certified facility, which will minimize consumption. In order for it to be labeled a LEED building, Beech-Nut must have both the design plans and facility certified.
"It will be the only green infant food manufacturer in North America," Rudolf said.
He said these moves have cost more in up-front cost, but they will save energy and money in the end.
Rudolf said this move is not only about saving money, however, but about saving energy and reducing waste.
The building design has also tried to take advantage of the natural resources offered at the site, he said.
Rudolf said the corporate offices in the front will face to the east to get as much natural light as possible, thereby reducing the need for electrical lighting. The factory area will have views of the rolling hills that surround the facility.
"We have the sunlight, but the factory has the views," Rudolf said.
Two large ponds were created by blasting large holes in the ground to collect ground water runoff on the site.
Project Manager Jim Ivey of the Facility Group of Smyrna, Ga., said much of the land had to be levelled by using a new kind of explosive that reduces noise.
Ivey said the contractors did tests to make sure the blasting techniques would not create a noisy disturbance for the neighboring Mohawk Mills housing development.
The new facility will retain 356 jobs in Montgomery County and will bring in at least 135 new jobs. The company's corporate headquarters will be moved from a temporary location at a business park in Latham to offices in the front of the new building.
Rudolf said the company is still hard at work hiring new people, filling more than 100 new positions added in the past few months.
"We are extremely pleased with the feedback and the number of applications," Rudolf said.
Feller said these new employees are currently being trained to ensure they are ready to work once November 2009 comes around.
"We have created 400 good-paying construction jobs as well," Rudolf said.
Feller said the company has been working with experts to help select the best and newest machines for the factory.
"I'm delighted to have a positive impact on upstate New York," said Garland Smith, a field operative with the Facility Group.
"To our friends in Canajoharie and Fort Plain, we thank you for your 100 years of service," he said.
Rudolf said the company is looking at options for its Canajoharie and Fort Plain sites, but because of ongoing litigation he could not go into more detail.
More information on the project can be found online at www.beechnutbuilds.com
Kerry McAvoy can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com
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Uranus
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10-23-08 11:43 AM
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"To our friends in Canajoharie and Fort Plain, we thank you for your 100 years of service," he said. Ha Ha So long suckers!!!
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