Foundation Laid for Erie Foods Distribution Center Expansion in Illinois

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Privately held Erie Foods International, Incorporated (Rochelle, Illinois) has completed pouring the foundation for a distribution center expansion at their research and manufacturing facility in Rochelle.

In conjunction with Union Pacific's new Intermodal railport that is scheduled to be completed in June of 2003, the new 100,000 square foot distribution facility will ease feedstock ingredient arrivals from overseas as well as product distribution to the company's customers located at international destinations like Australia and India.

Phalen Construction (Mendota, Illinois) was awarded as the general contractor for the project. The total building footprint is actually 200,000 square feet with the additional 100,000 square feet to be leased and occupied by future Intermodal railport users.

Steel is expected to arrive at the job site at 1201 South Main Street in Rochelle, located about 73 miles west of Chicago, around late December and the project is on a fast track construction schedule with completion slated for May of 2003.

Costs estimates for the project are estimated to be in the $7 to $10 million range.

Erie began operations in 1938 in Erie, Illinois, as a United States manufacturer of milk protein ingredients. The Rochelle facility was built in 1982 as a research and manufacturing operation to accommodate the growing demand for custom processing alternatives in agglomeration, extrusion, grinding, particle coating and blending. These manufacturing options enlarged Erie's capacity to provide quality protein ingredients to the food, nutrition, and pharmaceutical industries. Globally, Erie has a subsidiary company in Australia, and a joint venture food processing company in India.