Americold opens new $93 million storage facility

Americold of Rochelle officials hosted a grand opening ceremony for their new state of the art cold storage facility

Andrew Heiserman
Posted 8/20/19

Americold of Rochelle officials hosted a grand opening ceremony for their new $93 million cold storage facility Tuesday morning.

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Americold opens new $93 million storage facility

Americold of Rochelle officials hosted a grand opening ceremony for their new state of the art cold storage facility

Posted

ROCHELLE – Americold of Rochelle officials hosted a grand opening ceremony for their new $93 million cold storage facility Tuesday morning.

The event took place outside in the parking lot of the Americold facilities in Rochelle and included food, comments from the CEO of Americold and the Rochelle mayor, a ribbon cutting ceremony and tours inside the new facility.

The new building, features 173,000 square feet of refrigerated space and 7,000 square feet of non-refrigerated space for offices, electrical and engine rooms, maintenance and other operational duties. Everything within the new facility will be 100 percent fully automated and it will also feature a state-of-the-art fire protection system, eliminating the need for a traditional sprinkler system.

“This building took about 50 man years of engineering to build, and with its fire suppression system, there is no chance for a fire,” said David Stuver, executive vice president “We think it might be the most technologically advanced building in the world.”

When products arrive at the Americold facility they are picked up by a crane which then brings the full pallets over to a robot that will then go in and delayer the contents. And then ultimately if the customer only wants one case or so of the product, it then travels down a conveyer belt to a work demand station. Some of the benefits of this automated system are eliminating the need for workers to travel the entire distance of the facility to receive a package and it decreases the amount of times the packages are touched at the facility.

“Clearly speed is one of the benefits, the ability to be able to bring product off the rail, induct it very quickly and seamlessly without a lot of touches.  With reduced touches you have less damage, you have less inventory shrink and things like that,” explained Fred Boehler, president and CEO of Americold.

Food partnership

In addition to completing the project, Americold has also partnered with Feed the Children to continue its commitment to fighting childhood hunger and providing resources to the local communities the company serves. Immediately following the grand opening event, Americold employees, the city manager and mayor and Feed the Children handed out more than 200 boxes of food and essentials to families within the community at VFW park.

“Feed the Children is proud to partner with Americold to help vulnerable children and struggling families in Rochelle,” said Feed the Children president and CEO Travis Arnold in a press release. “We know that when we combine our efforts, we will have a greater impact on the lives of families who need us most.” 

Bearrows said the City of Rochelle is very grateful for Americold and everything the company does for the community.

“Rochelle is truly blessed to have Americold making a long-term commitment in the community with creating jobs and helping with daily activities,” said Bearrows at Tuesday’s ceremony.