A Growing Sioux City Award was presented to Seaboard Triumph Foods at its sprawling 942,000 square-foot facility in Bridgeport Industrial Park. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds provided remarks and Mayor Bob Scott presented the award that recognizes the company’s growth and investment in Sioux City. The Growing Sioux City Award was accepted by Seaboard Triumph Foods COO Mark Porter. Company officials received Sioux City wind breakers and a new tree was planted on the property signifying the company’s commitment to growing Sioux City.
The event also celebrated the one-year anniversary of the start of production at STF’s new Sioux City facility. The initial $260 million construction of the plant was completed in September 2017, with a second phase coming on line earlier this year bringing the total capital investment in the STF campus to over $330 million. The joint venture between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods created the most advanced and second largest pork facility in the world.
Already operational with its first shift, and currently hiring staff for its second shift, STF currently employs more than 1,800, and will eventually employ an estimated 2,400 people (including management and management support). With the first shift the facility now processes upwards of 10,500 hogs per day, (more than 3 million annually), and that number will double upon total deployment of the second shift’s personnel.
One of the largest projects in Sioux City history, STF has boosted the overall economy of the region with a significant increase in regional job growth and overall earnings and industry sales in other sectors, such as transportation and warehousing, manufacturing, and shipping, as well as healthcare and retail. Many area businesses, including suppliers, cold storage facilities and trucking firms have already begun expansion projects.
About the project
STF purchased the 250-acre Bridgeport West site from the City, which was initially developed as a certified development site. Various business assistance was provided through several State and City programs. With the assistance of the Iowa DOT’s RISE program, and STF, the City is also in the process of constructing over $11 million in new road improvements to serve STF and other industries in the Bridgeport Industrial Park.
Company leaders were attracted to Sioux City because it offered a construction-ready site, transportation infrastructure, pro-business environment, and easy access to hog producers. A key factor was the overall strength of the regional agricultural economy, and Iowa is the leading hog producing state in the US. The area has the needed infrastructure, and a network of supporting industries (trucking/logistics, materials suppliers, contractors, cold storage, packaging, etc.).
STF’s facility was designed from the ground up to be humane in treatment of the animals it receives and provide not only a safe work environment for employees but also a quality fresh pork product for consumers. It uses advanced automation and robotics to improve worker safety, increase product yield and reduce waste The robots more accurately cut carcasses and trim pork products such as loins and bellies while the remaining automation in the state-of-the-art facility provides a more efficient operation. A data collection system allows complete track-and-trace record of every hog that is processed from the hog’s farm origin to the shipment of products that leave the facility.
Source: Seaboard Triumph Foods
