Richardson Oilseed | Improvements made in packaging, blending, storage
A $15 million expansion to the Richardson Oilseed plant in Leth-bridge is officially complete and will allow the company to offer a broader range of canola-based products.
Shirley Gilmour, director of operations for the plant, said the expansion improved packaging, blending and storage facilities at the plant.
Canola oil can now be blended on site with palm, olive, sunflower and corn oils to meet various customer specifications, she said.
Most of the 33,000 sq. foot expansion involved the packaging side for oils, margarine and shortening. About 6,000 sq. feet is for storage that now includes 11 new tanks.
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“Now we’re able to handle and store in that area,” said Gilmour. “That has enabled us to reduce the total amount of inventory that we actually hold.”
In the past, the plant used off-site, third-party storage for some of its goods, and used rail cars to transfer product from its refinery to its packaging facility.
“Now all of our oil comes across by pipeline, so it’s obviously a lot faster, more efficient, safer,” Gilmour said.
A third component of the expansion makes bottling three times faster, at 145 bottles per minute. Upgraded technology allows wrap-around labels the plant was unable to manage before.
It can also package product in trays with plastic wrap instead of corrugated boxes it used previously.
“That allows the package to be placed on the shelf in the store so it’s faster for the retailer to get product on the store shelves and it reduces the amount of waste.”
Additional staff training was required to manage greater automation at the plant, said Gilmour. No layoffs resulted and staff reductions were handled through attrition and transfer. The Lethbridge operation employs 160 people.
Still under construction on the site is a $1.5 million research lab where new products can be developed and existing product can be tested for quality control. It is expected to be complete sometime next year, Gilmour said.
The plant remained fully operational throughout the expansion project, which officially opened Aug. 22.
