“This expansion reflects the promising new era we're experiencing at Smithfield,” Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods, said in a statement. “It supports our continued growth and helps us better serve our customers by providing additional capacity and optimizing our distribution footprint.”
Smithfield plans to begin the construction of the new project this month with both the distribution center and blast cell cold storage completed by fall of 2018. The distribution center will cover 500,000 sq. ft. with 47,000 pallet positions and the blast cell cold storage expansion will increase capacity by 140 million lbs.
“At Smithfield, we're constantly evaluating strategies to achieve greater operational efficiencies and make our supply chain more sustainable,” said Dennis Organ, senior vice president, supply chain & direct store delivery (DSD) for Smithfield Foods. “This project will help us accomplish both goals while better serving our customers in the southeastern US.”
The Tar Heel facility currently employs nearly 5,000 and processes over 30,000 hogs per day.
