The ground beef plant in Columbus, Nebraska will soon be converted to a cooked meats facility. Cargill plans to invest $111 million to provide the capabilities of making cooked meat products for its customers. The process of converting the plant will begin in December of this year with the goal of producing cooked meats by the middle of 2016. The former ground beef production will be moved to other existing facilities in Butler, Wisconsin and Forth Worth, Texas.
“This project, especially the investment we’re making in Columbus, is significant and exciting, and it represents our long-term commitment to current and future Cargill customers, as well as to the community,” explained John Niemann, president of Wichita, Kansas-based Cargill Turkey and Cooked Meats. “When completed, our Columbus plant will give us a variety of cooked meat processing capabilities we currently don’t have, and those new capabilities will provide our customers with more options to help them grow their businesses.”
Another $27 million will be need to move the ground beef operation as new production lines will be installed. These new lines should improve efficiency and enable Cargill to better serve their customers.
“These changes will better position us to serve a variety of Cargill customers while enhancing our ability to provide them with products and support they value,” stated Chris Roberts, president of Cargill Value Added Protein, also based in Wichita. “Our focus is on doing whatever is required to help grow our customers’ businesses by meeting consumers’ needs which, in turn, will help us grow our business. This is a win-win for our customers, Cargill and the community, and something we believe is important for us to do to maintain our competitive edge in the marketplace going forward.”
Both Niemann and Roberts point to the 150-year heritage Cargill has for nourishing people and communities as a motivational driver that contributes to the success of the company’s operations at Columbus, Butler and Fort Worth, as well as at its other protein operations in North America. “From Cargill’s humble beginning in rural Iowa during 1865, the company has maintained a deeply seated sense of responsibility to help feed and nourish people, and we are serious about doing so in a transparent and sustainable way that helps everyone in the value chain thrive,” said Niemann.
Cargill expect 80 jobs to be impacted when the Columbus facility is converted. They are working with these employees to fill other Cargill positions in the area, with relocation support being offered if necessary. When the cooked meats plant is finished they expect to resume their current number of approximately 250 employees.