Hormel Food Processing Plant, Dubuque, Iowa, USA

Hormel is one of the leading food production companies in the US, responsible for brands such as SPAM, Carapelli, Dinty Moore, Farmer John, Jennie-O, and Stagg as well as its own Hormel brand name. One of Hormel’s most successful products is the Compleats range of shelf-stable microwaveable meals, the demand for which has outstripped production. To meet this demand, Hormel invested $89m in the construction of a 342,000ft² production plant in Dubuque, Iowa, US.

The plant broke ground on 25 July 2008 and produced its first microwave meals on 25 January. The grand opening, however, took place on 30 March. The facility is operated as Progressive Packaging, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hormel Foods.

The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be the only refrigerated food processing facility to possess LEED certification at any level.

The company plans to employ around 300 more staff when the plant begins operating at full capacity. Employees will be hired when new production lines are added. Around 200 employees will be hired when a new canning line is selected by the end of 2010.

Green credentials

The plant conforms to green standards for environmental sustainability and Hormel is aiming for US Green Building Council Certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

The plant is the third food new-build project to go through this process in the US, the others being a PepsiCo Gatorade plant in Virginia and a Kettle Foods potato chip plant in Wisconsin.

The plant aims to gain LEED gold status based on the total credits or points it earns for its green practices in six areas: materials and resources (13 points); indoor environmental quality (15 points); energy and atmosphere (17 points); sustainable site (14 points), water efficiency (five points); and innovation and design process (five points). Hormel has applied for the certification and anticipates the confirmation in few months.

Energy efficiency

The plant has an efficient retorting process which saves its grey water for flushing toilets and irrigation. The ‘waste’ heat from the cooling cycle of retorting equipment, HVAC, boilers, air and ammonia compressors (refrigeration) is saved using ‘geothermal’-type technology to heat office heating systems.

The campus uses a white membrane reflective roofing and permeable concrete to reduce erosion from water runoff. There are also 200 skylights to allow natural daylight over electrical lighting and dimmer controls for lights.

Plant utilities are divided into a number of zones and controlled locally for greater efficiency. Employees who carpool are given preferred parking, while cyclists have locker and shower facilities.

Construction

Gleeson Constructors was the general contractor for the construction of the facility. The construction used 25% less water and energy than is usually required to build a plant. The construction also used materials consisting of more than 36% recycled content. Moreover, 85% of construction waste was recycled.

Products

Products manufactured at the facility include varieties of spaghetti, chicken and dumplings, chicken and noodles, and lasagna, though it can produce all varieties of Compleats and CHI-CHI’S Fiesta Plates microwave meals.

Safety

The plant uses state-of-the-art sorting equipment to ensure that no foreign particles enter the food. High-power magnets are used to remove iron or metal items. Products are x-rayed in order to detect foreign materials.