MANUFACTURING TIDBITS
COVID:
Spurs for Food Manufacturing Facilities by THOMAS R. CUTLER Regardless of the state of COVID or perhaps because of the Delta variant, the growth of food manufacturing and new plants have never seen the trajectory experienced in Q2 2021. The size and scope of these new facilities and the jobs which follow are almost unprecedented. Food Engineering is tracking all the groundbreaking and grand opening news. Everything is Bigger in Texas Great Lakes Cheese and the Development Corporation of Abilene celebrated the official groundbreaking of a 286,500 square foot, stateof-the-art cheese packaging and distribution plant that is expected to employ 500 people in Abilene. Cuisine Solutions announced the opening of a
new $200 million, 315,000 square foot production facility in San Antonio, and the facility is expected to add 300 jobs to the company’s existing facility. Cold Creek Solutions announced a new state-ofthe-art, 374,560 square foot cold storage facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth intralogistics region. The company has already leased nearly half of its facility to Southwest Warehouse Services. Other states seeing food manufacturing facility growth as well. Hilmar Cheese Company plans to build a $460 million production facility in Dodge City, Kansas and the new facility will create 247 full-time jobs. Diamond Pet Food based in Ripon, California will add a fourth production line within its existing continued
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Manufacturing Outlook / August 2021