Registration is closed - Tour has reached capacity.
Please join us on Wednesday, October 29th at 5:30 for a "behind the scenes" tour of Ocean Spray in Allentown, PA. Several of their staff engineers will be guiding the tour and providing information on the new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant. The evening will start with a 10 minute presentation. The participants will then split into smaller groups for the 45 minute facility tour.
As a grower-owned operation, Ocean Spray processes its products into concentrate where it grows the berries, and the concentrate goes to its bottling facilities. The company has more than 700 cranberry growers, more than 35 grapefruit growers and more than 2,000 employees globally.
President and CEO Randy Papadellis said growing and harvesting fruit is a labor of love for Ocean Spray's owners, and that's reflected in the company's values. "Ocean Spray's essentially run as a family business, committed to bringing a neighborly culture to every community that we enter. We manage our business in a way that respects our communities, our employees and the environment. We look forward to bringing this commitment here to the Lehigh Valley," he said.
This facility provides 40 percent of the company’s North American volume, said Erich A. Fritz, vice president of engineering and new technologies for Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., headquartered in Lakeville-Middleboro, Mass. The new facility will ship about 30 million cases of product each year, he added. Valued at more than $100 million to build, the site represents a sizable investment in the food production sector, according to Fritz.
The new bottling plant will have two basic products. Not only will it produce its namesake juice in 10-ounce to gallon size bottles, it also will be a packaging plant for Juicy Juice for Nestle Waters. Ocean Spray has a partnership with Nestle Waters, which has two nearby facilities in the same industrial park. Ocean Spray will manufacture and package Juicy Juice and ship it to Nestle, Fritz said, noting that close to 20 percent of Ocean Spray’s expected daily truck traffic will be trucks going to one of the Nestle distribution facilities.
When Ocean Spray submitted its building footprint to the township, it included a future expansion plan, he added. Ocean Spray completed multiple traffic studies, and Fritz said the site has a lot of the proper infrastructure necessary to handle a manufacturing operation. “A lot of consideration went into this particular site,” Fritz said. “It’s a great community of people that have the right values and want to work.”
http://www.oceanspray.com
Following our tour we will be having dinner nearby at Boston's Pizza. The are a short drive from Ocean Spray at 327 Star Road, Allentown. Dinner orders will be off the menu on separate checks.
http://www.bostons.com
There will be 1.0 PDH available for $10.00. Guests not requiring PDH certification are free of charge. PayPal is available and encouraged for registration payment. If you do not pay in advance, cash or check will be collected immediately prior to start of tour.
You will need to show valid photo ID upon entrance to the building and a visitor's pass will be issued. Additional information regarding parking and clothing/shoe requirements will provided to participants in a email prior to tour. There will also be a form that will need to be completed. We will forward the form to the registrants in time to fill it in and bring it along on the day of the tour.
Ocean Spray is located at 151 Boulder Drive, Breinigsville, PA.
