AIRLANCO/AGI AWARDED SUBSTANTIAL CGB CONTRACT
The Consolidated Grain and Barge project is on track thanks to a mild winter and many changes have occurred since the groundbreaking ceremony 4 months ago. CGB’s contractors, MBI Construction of Effignham, IL and Custom Agri-Builders of Washington, IN have settled into the Falls City community and are working hard to meet the goal of being open for business during the 2013 harvest. Once complete, Falls City will be home to a state of the art, high speed looped track grain terminal served by Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
CGB is a great win for the community and we know the list of benefits, including capital investment and job creation, is something to celebrate. We see the trucks entering and exiting the highway in a routine fashion, roads being built, cranes working at a steady pace, and cement is being poured daily.
Employees are working in all weather conditions to get the job done. Slowly, area citizens can begin to envision what the site will look like once complete.
It’s an exciting time to be involved in economic development as we hear all the good reports being shared by those directly involved in the many facets of construction including Paul Franzmann, Senior Vice President of Operations at AGI who states, “Ag Growth International (AGI) is thrilled that CGB chose our Airlanco, Union Iron (Decatur, IL), and Hi Roller (Sioux Falls, SD) family of products for their conveying and conditioning requirements at the new grain handling facility in Falls City, Nebraska. CGB is a valued customer of Ag Growth International and this is a key multi-million dollar project for both the Falls City/Richardson County area and AGI. This location will be a great showcase for the breadth of the product offerings AGI has for commercial grain facilities.”
AGI, parent company of Airlanco, is a leading manufacturer of grain handling, conditioning and storage
equipment, providing solutions from the farm gate to commercial grain handling and processing operations around the world. CGB is installing a myriad of these manufactured products including hoppers, conveyors, elevators, and conditioning equipment at their newly constructed Falls City, NE location. Airlanco, specifically, is providing a rail pit hopper and receiving pit hoppers for unloading grain, aeration fans, transitions, and flooring for two (2) one hundred five foot diameter grain bins, two (2) seventy five foot diameter grain bins, and one (1) thirty foot diameter hopper bin. Aeration is used to control the temperature and condition the grain preventing spoilage, allowing grain to be stored safely, even well after harvest has been completed. Eric Kresin, Regional Manager, CGB, stated “CGB is proud to have Airlanco, Union Iron and Hi Roller as preferred vendors because they produce quality products, provide great customer service and their products are competitively priced. ”
AGI’s commercial manufacturing divisions have provided handling equipment to farmers, grain elevators, processors, and port facilities for over 125 years. Tom Zant, Vice President, Commercial Products Group, of AGI recently visited Falls City and spoke about the broadened partnership he sees unfolding for Airlanco, AGI, and CGB in the future noting, “CGB is building a high tech facility with AGI components and our sales staff will be bringing customers, both current and future, to Falls City to view this showcase facility. This development project will certainly assist in the growth of AGI companies, including Airlanco.”
The CGB project encapsulates a wide scope of economic development activities in a broad range of areas including construction, manufacturing, agriculture and engineering. It’s amazing to see how the project has come together in just a short time and look for more exciting changes in the month of April.
Bin-jackers will be on site to begin the erection of the grain bins as the project continues to move in fast forward.
For more information regarding AGI, please visit: www.aggrowth.com.
-- Falls City EDGE Newsletter