Crown Iron Works breaks ground on global HQ, innovation center

Photo: Crown Iron Works

October 31, 2018

BY Crown Iron Works

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.

Advertisement

“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.”

Advertisement

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.

 

Related Stories

Avfuel Corp., the leading independent supplier of aviation fuel and services, is expanding its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) footprint with the addition of a new, strategic supply point in Denver, Colorado—the first of its kind in the region.

Read More

CVR Energy Inc. on July 30 reported its renewables segment achieved increased throughput during Q2 despite unplanned downtime but reported a net loss of $11 million. The company expects to retroactively claim the 45Z credit for volumes produced.

Read More

Total U.S. operable biofuels production capacity expanded in May, with gains for renewable diesel and a small decrease for ethanol, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Feedstock consumption was up.

Read More

SAF-producer XCF Global Inc. on July 28 announced it has signed an exclusive, non-binding indication of intent (IOI) with a renewable fuels infrastructure and feedstock solutions company based in the western U.S.

Read More

The abrupt closure announcement by Biox Corp. is the latest example of a failure to secure Canada's domestic energy supply, says Unifor. The Canadian energy union is advocating for simply regulatory changes that could help restart the facility.

Read More

Upcoming Events

Sign up for our e-newsletter!

Advertisement

Advertisement