J.M. Smucker wins 2020 Food Engineering Plant of the Year

MycoTechnology wins Sustainable Plant of the Year

J.M. Smucker’s Longmont, Colo. production facility has been named the 2020 Food Engineering Plant of the Year.

The 432,000-sq.-ft. plant was designed and built by Dennis Group. The plant came online in June of 2019 and can produce 280 million Uncrustables frozen sandwiches annually. Another line will begin operation in 2020 to bring capacity to 420 million Uncrustables, with future plans to double capacity. The plant produces 20,000 lbs. of dough every hour, making it the largest single-line bakery in the world.

“The sheer size and production capacity of the Longmont plant would make it a serious contender for Plant of the Year,” says Food Engineering Editor-in-Chief Casey Laughman. “But it was the innovation, efficiency and attention to detail in every step of the process that set it apart.”

“We worked closely with Smucker’s from the earliest planning stages to design a highly automated facility that incorporated the latest technology, safety, and energy efficiency features, and we’re collectively very proud of the facility,” says Mary Frances Stotler, Dennis Group’s project manager.

The plant will be featured in the April cover story of Food Engineering and the award will be presented at the annual Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference, held April 26-29 at the Doral Resort in Miami.

In addition to the Plant of the Year award, MycoTechnology was named winner of the Sustainable Plant of the Year award for its facility in Aurora, Colo. The facility, designed and built by CRB, produces a mushroom-based protein source. The plant is being honored for not only operated in a sustainable way, including using reclaimed water for process purposes, but also using a sustainable ingredient. The plant will be featured as the November 2020 cover story in Food Engineering’s annual sustainability issue and the award will also be presented at the Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference.

KEYWORDS: award food and beverage facilities

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Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.