Crown Iron Works has broken ground on its new global headquarters to support the 140-year-old company’s commitment to growth and innovation. Crown’s new 68,000 square-foot facility in Blaine, Minnesota, will accommodate a 37 percent increase in global headquarters staff, and fuel technological advancements for the company and its customers through its state-of-the-art innovation center featuring a 15,000 square-foot pilot plant—triple the size of its current pilot plant. The official ribbon cutting is scheduled for Oct. 31.

Crown’s global headquarters and innovation center will serve as a world-class resource to leading global manufacturers within the oilseed processing industry. It is designed to harness the creativity and ingenuity of Crown’s team to develop innovative solutions and technologies for customers around the world.

“Our goal is to be the first call for customers looking for a technology partner to transform their manufacturing capabilities by reducing energy and water usage, improving yields, and reducing capital and operating costs,” said Mike Hoerle, Crown’s vice president of global engineering.

The flagship innovation center will include a fully functional and highly instrumented pilot plant with preparation, extraction, protein concentrate and refining equipment connected to a best-in-class control system, allowing customers to simulate plant-processing operations within a controlled environment. The extensive infrastructure will also support customer interaction in trials and provide maintenance and operation training for customers.

”Our customers are world leaders in the oilseed processing industry, and they are demanding innovative approaches to lower the total cost of ownership and operational cost while also improving efficiency,” said Bill Antilla, general manager, Crown Global Companies. “Our new 68,000 square-foot global headquarters and world-class innovation center fully leverages Crown’s industry-leading technology and talented global team to further expand Crown’s role as a trusted advisor and problem-solving partner to our customers.”

Mortenson Construction is developing the $12 million facility with a $1.2 million business subsidy from the city of Blaine to promote economic development in the community.

Crown, a division of CPM Holdings Inc., is a 140-year-old, Minnesota-based, global company with additional offices in the U.K., Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Honduras, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine. Crown currently employs 250 people worldwide.