Clemens Food Group and Gray Construction Celebrate 1,000,000 Safe Hours on New Michigan Facility

Clemens Food Group and its design-build partner, Gray Construction, recently celebrated 1,000,000 safe man hours on Clemens’ new fresh pork processing facility located in Coldwater, Mich.

“It is a credit to everyone involved that we have successfully completed 1,000,000 hours on this project without a lost time accident. Our project teams at Clemens, Gray and our subcontractors have remained committed to sending every team member home safely each night,” said Doug Clemens – CEO for Clemens Food Group. “I would like to thank the entire project team for their efforts, and I look forward to completing this project with continued safe delivery.”

Announced in December of 2014, the 685,000-square-foot fresh pork processing facility will be located between Jonesville Road and Newton Road in Coldwater, Mich.  It has generated nearly $300 million in private investment. Additionally, the project is supported by $12.5 million in Michigan Strategic Fund – Community Development Block Grant funds for infrastructure improvements, land acquisition, workforce development and on-the-job training for the new development. This new facility will create 830 jobs for the surrounding communities.

Clemens Food Group’s Hatfield facility will continue to fully operate at its current capacity.  With the added production of the Coldwater plant, Clemens Food Group will double its fresh pork business.

The project remains on schedule to begin operation in September 2017, which is a credit to the continued collaboration between state and local officials, community leaders and the business partners involved.

“Our first core value is to put safety and quality of life first,” said Stephen Gray, president and CEO of Gray Construction. “We ensure that every member of our project team including Clemens, Gray and all our partners and vendors understand and practice this value.”

The team has carried out challenging activities including working as high as 95’, transporting and installing thousands of individual pieces of food processing equipment from all over the world and electrical engineering – all without injury due to the collaborative focus on safety.

To learn more about the construction and employment opportunities, visit CFGcoldwater.com.

About Clemens Food Group

The Clemens Food Group, founded in 1895, is a sixth-generation, family-owned integrated pork production operation including farming, processing, transportation, and logistics. Our heritage is deeply rooted in strong family values and our commitment to being responsible and contributing members of the communities where we operate, always with the highest degree of integrity and ethics.  We focus on supplying the highest quality products to our partners via a responsive and sustainable system while providing advanced solutions that simplify our partners’ operations.

Learn more at clemensfoodgroup.com.

About Gray Construction

Gray Construction is a nationally ranked engineering, architecture and construction firm with nearly 60 years of experience in manufacturing, automotive, food and beverage, distribution, hospitality and retail facility construction. Currently, Gray has several large projects that are underway or recently completed including: a Mercedes-Benz manufacturing facility in Vance, Ala.; a state-of-the-art kitchen for Champion Petfoods in Auburn, Ky.</a>; a foundry and mechanical machining facility for German-based Fritz Winter North America LP in Franklin, Ky.; a manufacturing facility for Italian paper product manufacturer Sofidel in Circleville, Ohio; and a titanium and aluminum component manufacturing facility for Weber Metals, Inc., in Paramount, Calif.

For more information on Gray, visit www.gray.com.