Changing consumer purchasing habits indicate an increase in the construction of distribution centers and new facilities outfitted for automation.

This year’s plant construction survey hit the highest number of projects ever recorded.

Jack Link's, maker of meat snacks sold in more than 40 countries, is expanding its distribution facility in Underwood, Iowa, to add warehouse capacity, as well as a highly automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) to improve efficiency. 

Younglove Construction, L.L.C., Sioux City, Iowa, received a construction award from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Iowa during the association’s annual Excellence in Construction Gala on April 8, 2022.

Stellar, a fully integrated firm focused on design, engineering, construction, and mechanical services worldwide, received a 2021 National Safety Excellence Award from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). 

We are now accepting entries for the 2022 Food Engineering Plant of the Year award. Submissions are due Friday, March 4, and eligible facilities need to have been completed in 2021 and opened by January 31, 2022.

We are now accepting entries for the 2022 Food Engineering Plant of the Year award. Submissions are due Friday, March 4, and eligible facilities need to have been completed in 2021 and opened by January 31, 2022.

Construction of new food and beverage plants continues to see a strong upward trend despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

T. Marzetti is expanding its Horse Cave, Kentucky, processing facility by an extra 184,500 square feet after a recent groundbreaking ceremony. The facility manufactures salad dressings, sauces and other foods for retail and foodservice markets. The expansion will provide additional manufacturing space and include new equipment to increase dressing and sauce production, new processing kitchens, and several packaging lines to meet growing customer demand. The expansion is expected to be complete in the summer of 2022 and will create over 200 jobs for the region.

Dole Foods has opened a new state-of-the-art frozen fruit facility in McDonough, Georgia, Dole's third frozen fruit facility in the United States, complimenting the existing operations in Atwater, California, and Decatur, Michigan. The new facility is approximately 60,000 square feet, fully automated and will have four manufacturing lines which when at capacity can produce 60 million pounds of frozen fruit annually. The operations will package frozen fruit for Dole's retail, food service and private label customers on the east coast.