By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dan Vos, left, and Steve DeWitt, right, mark the third generation of their respective companies to work together on construction projects at Request Foods. PHOTO:  JOE BOOMGAARD

HOLLAND — Steve DeWitt and the other executives at Request Foods Inc. get nervous when the food processing company starts to reach about 90 percent of its manufacturing capacity.

It’s a feeling that’s happened more than once over the last few years as the family-owned company grew. Once that 90-percent threshold is reached, the company’s policy is to add on to accommodate further growth, and that’s exactly what they did with the recent construction and completion of the Greenly Street plant, an over 200,000-square-foot, high-tech production facility designed and built with Dan Vos Construction Co. just a stone’s throw from the main Request plant and headquarters.

“We saw the need for growth here as we continued to grow with our existing customers,” DeWitt told MiBiz. The Greenly plant will allow Request to expand into new product lines, namely the trendy new skillet bags from various labels. “We’ve never done those before, but we’re seeing a lot of growth in that category, so we designed a whole room to do skillet bags.”

The new Greenly Street plant for Request Foods includes some office and conference space, as well as a test kitchen, shown above, where the company can try new products in smaller quantities. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

DeWitt said Request initially watched the new product style from the sidelines to ensure that it wasn’t just some soon-to-be-exhausted fad. Only after it was clear the bags had staying power did the company steer its production capacity in that direction.

“The same buyers that we sell to now for the frozen pan varieties are the same as for the skillet bags,” he said. “We’re becoming one-stop (for the customers). There’s already a relationship there, and they know what we can do. They know our quality. It’s a nice avenue to expand our business, and so far, it’s worked to our advantage.”

The timing of the construction for the Greenly plant had to be carefully orchestrated to coincide with the slower season in the food processor’s business so they could ramp up production during the peak times from August through March. Construction wrapped up in May of this year, and Request has been working to test and verify all of its equipment over the summer. The plant was partially operational by mid-August.

Dan Vos, EVP of Dan Vos Construction, said the project was designed with future expansion in mind. The location of the building on the property was chosen to maximize opportunities for future building space, which totals about another 170,000 square feet. Another key element was the use of precast concrete walls, which can be moved if needed to accommodate an easier expansion process.

“One of the big advantages is that Dan Vos Construction has done a lot of other food plants,” DeWitt said. DVCC built most of the existing Request facilities, as well as other projects for Hudsonville Ice Cream, Michigan Turkey Producers, Boar’s Head, and others. “They gave us the best info we could get, and we used all that info to design this building.”

Vos noted his family and the DeWitts have worked together for three generations.

“We do have a lot of experience in designing and building these facilities,” Vos told MiBiz. “We know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from us.”

DeWitt said DVCC’s experience and the relationship between the two companies certainly helped speed the process with the Greenly plant, which is intended as a “showpiece” for Request Foods.

“Because we are a co-manufacturer, when we get customers into our facility … it needs to sell itself,” DeWitt said. “For the Greenly Street building, we wanted to make it a showpiece for our customers. We wanted to wow them with the food safety (measures) we took to create this facility. Because it’s not our name on the products, that makes it all the more important that the products have the number one quality and are food-safe and delivered on time.

Request paid special attention to the details at its new plant. It specified a red brick floor in the production facility and stainless steel curbs to prevent damage to the wall, but it also quality finishes for employees areas, including the tile floor and trim in the locker room adjacent to the employee exercise facility. PHOTO:  JOE BOOMGAARD

“One of our major customers gave what I thought was a tremendous compliment when they said, ‘When you built this facility, you did it right.’ … We’ve spent some more money on extra things — the brick floor is different, as are the walls and curbs. It’s nice for the customers to notice. We wanted to do it right.”

The facility also includes a test kitchen, cafeteria and an exercise room for employees and their families to use.

With safety in mind, the company designed the loading dock so that drivers back up to the doors, but only Request employees can break the seal of the building. In the past, the doors could be opened from the outside, which creates issues for keeping the integrity of the operations inside. And when customers’ names are on the line, DeWitt said his company wanted to do all it could to be proactive.

Extra attention was also given to the selection of metal curbs and strong finishes designed to withstand heavy use and frequent cleaning.

Food processing is an energy intensive operation. All the ingredients have to be heated up and cooked, but then they need to be cooled down and frozen shortly after they’re all combined. The facility has a range of needs in its different areas, like dry storage, freezer storage, cooler storage and so on, which necessitate the use of a lot of compressors to control the temperature. The company worked with subcontractors to find efficiencies and new technology to reduce energy use where possible.

“We asked every one of our vendors or subs, how do we do this more efficiently, how can we use different units or motors to make us more efficient?” DeWitt said. “With less energy and less cost, that means we can be more competitive in our world.”

He added that the company purchases as much local material as possible, everything from vegetables to packaging material. Request spent about $50 million in raw materials from Michigan last year, he said.