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Work begins on new $190m cheese, whey products facility
Glanbia plc is pleased to announce commencement of construction following the recent creation of Southwest Cheese Company LLC ("Southwest"), a joint venture between Glanbia, Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. ("DFA"), Select Milk Producers Inc. ("Select"), and the other dairy cooperative members of the Greater Southwest Agency, Inc. The venture is 50% owned by Glanbia with the balance primarily owned by DFA and Select. Southwest has recently awarded contracts to Dahlgren / Skanska and Carlisle Process Systems to begin construction of a $190 million cheese and whey manufacturing facility to be located in Clovis, N.M.
Commissioning of the new facility is expected in the 4th Quarter of 2005. Once fully operational, it is anticipated that the new facility will generate sales in the region of $350 million per annum and will employ approximately 220 staff. Milk for the facility will be supplied by the dairy cooperative members of the Greater Southwest Agency (DFA, Select, Lone Star and Zia). Glanbia Foods, Inc., headquartered in Twin Falls, Idaho, will provide operational management for the facility in addition to handling all cheese sales, while Glanbia Nutritionals, out of its U.S.A. office based in Monroe, Wisconsin will market the nutritional ingredients derived from the whey stream.
Once fully commissioned, the new facility will be one of the largest and most efficient plants in the world, annually processing over 2.4 billion pounds of milk and produce in excess of 250 million pounds of cheese and 16.5 million pounds of high value-added whey proteins.
Commenting on the announcement, David Thomas, CEO of Glanbia Foods, Inc., said, "Our customers have been very involved with us in the planning and development of this new facility and are particularly excited about our expansion of natural cheddar cheese in the 640 pound block format. This project will allow us to meet a growing demand for high quality natural cheese by partnering with DFA and Select who have access to a growing, highly efficient milk supply base in the Southwest."
Gary Hanman, CEO of DFA, added, "This is an exciting project for all of the dairy farmers who market their milk through the Greater Southwest Agency. Through this partnership, we are creating an important new market for milk in a region of the U.S. where milk production has seen rapid growth. DFA is pleased to have joined forces with Glanbia--a dairy processor with a reputation for developing and operating large scale, efficient facilities. The goal, here, is to maximize market opportunities for the benefit of all our stakeholders."
Mike McCloskey, CEO of Select added, "As a co-op comprising large scale dairy producers in the Southwest region of the USA, we are looking forward to extending our relationship with DFA and joining with Glanbia in developing what will be one of the most modern and efficient facilities of its kind in the world. This is a major project which will greatly benefit all milk producers in the region."
Maurice Keane, President of Southwest Cheese Company, commented. "A lot of effort has gone into getting this project off the ground. Now the focus of our dedicated project and operations team will be to ensure that this state of the art plant is delivered as planned."
Date: 1/29/04
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