Vineland Growers Co-operative revealed its newly expanded warehouse and storage distribution centre in Virgil last week to its farmer-owners and supporters that came out to celebrate the century-old co-operative's latest milestone.
The new 30,000 square foot expansion boasts 12 new shipping bays, 15,600 square feet of new cold storage space all fully equipped with an advanced racking-system that allows product to flow in and out of the facility in an efficient first-in, first-out manner.
"On any given day, this site will see 40,000 boxes of fruit flow through this facility," says Mike Ecker the co-operative's general manager. Vineland Growers Co-op is delivering large quantities of quality product coast-to-coast to top prominent grocers, supplying both organic and traditionally-farmed product to fulfill the needs of today's consumer demand.
Of the eight cold storage compartments, four have a state-of-the-art feature called Controlled Atmosphere (CA) technology from Holland.
With this expansion,Vineland Growers has grown its business internationally by receiving product from various countries around the world allowing the co-op to be operational 12 months a year.
George Lepp, a director of the co-op, congratulated the Vineland staff, the building crew and contractors on their commitment to not only building a superb facility, but keeping business operations running as usual while under construction. "Our team not only managed a smooth transition during this time, but at the end of the day we also managed to come in under budget," says Lepp. "In this day and age, that is unheard of!"
For more information:
Mike Ecker
General manager
Vineland Growers Co-operative
905-651-4386
Phil Tregunno
Chairman of the board
Vineland Growers Co-operative
905-984-0437