La Junta, Colorado, USA
June 12, 2013
Oliver Manufacturing celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony for their new office building on June 5, 2013. The ceremony took place next to their current manufacturing facility in La Junta, Colorado. This was an opportunity to celebrate the growth of Oliver Manufacturing with its employees, community officials, and many of the Arkansas Valley community members.
Current President/CEO, Brian Burney, began with a speech where he introduced the members of the Burney family and the Board of Directors that were able to attend and talked about the future growth in all aspects of Oliver Manufacturing. Comments were made by Bill Jackson, Assistant La Junta City Manager; Matt Schindler, WDM Architects; and Mike Golden, MW Golden Constructors. After the ceremony, attendees enjoyed refreshments and tours of the manufacturing facility after the groundbreaking ceremony.
The new 10,000 square foot office building will be attached to the southeast corner of the existing La Junta manufacturing facility. The single-story, brick and extruded metal building was designed by WDM Architects P.A. of Wichita, Kansas. Head architect, Matt Schindler, grew up in La Junta. General Contractor will be MW Golden Constructors of Castle Rock, Colorado. Estimated completion is in mid-October, 2013.
The new office building will allow for the combination of staff in the Administration, Sales, Engineering, and Management departments. It will also allow for a geographic proximity with the manufacturing facility that Oliver has not had since 2006. It will feature an open office environment with seating for over 40 people. It will also include 3 conference rooms, a large cafeteria break room, expanded bathrooms, and outdoor patio areas.
“We had run out of room at our Rocky Ford offices,” said Oliver President/CEO Brian Burney. “This new building will allow for the consolidation of our operations with updated and expanded office facilities.”
Oliver Manufacturing has experienced steady growth in sales over the past few years and plans to add a minimum of 14 employees over the next seven years in a multitude of departments.
Oliver Manufacturing was established in St. Louis, Missouri in 1930 by Oliver Steele, son of one of the developers of the first modern gravity separator. In the 1940s, disturbed by the labor violence that was plaguing St. Louis, Oliver decided to move his business to Rocky Ford, Colorado. In 1947 construction of the three large brick buildings was begun with most of the work being done by Oliver Steele and his own men. The first Oliver machine shipped from Rocky Ford in July of 1948. In 2006, Oliver moved its manufacturing plant to the former 200,000 square foot Bay Valley Foods distribution facility in the La Junta Industrial Park to take advantage of the much larger facility.
Topics
Species
