A year ago, a windy late September day welcomed Hilmar Cheese officials and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to Dodge City to help break ground for the company’s third state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
In the months since, progress has become starkly visible on the $600 million project. A building has taken shape and activity on the construction site continues. As of early October, nearly 80% of the roof is covering the building, with heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and duct work following suit.
Matchmaker
Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation Executive Director Joann Knight has been playing matchmaker since before Hilmar picked Dodge City for the location of its next project.
“Things in the last year have gone very smoothly. Things are actually ahead of schedule on what they had planned for,” Knight said. “A lot of what we’ve been doing is helping to facilitate the construction companies and knowing where to find RV parks and motel rooms or just having meeting space or making connections with people.”
The construction phase has positively impacted the local economy particularly with local hotels and restaurants, she said.
In the beginning it was quite the task to coordinate everything, and Knight was impressed with the planning and foresight of Hilmar’s team had for planning and details with the construction.
Knight and others on the team have helped get Hilmar more engaged with the community.
“It’s been great to see the progress that has been made and just incredibly exciting to know what to expect,” she said.
Hilmar already has a great name in the dairy industry and in Knight’s travels she’s been able to see their reach. Recently she was at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin and visited with companies about the stainless-steel tanks going in the facility as well as other dairy equipment.
“It’s just interesting how wide of an impact this makes. Not only for our community but for the industry itself,” she said.
Building continues and workers are being hired
According to officials, construction is progressing towards the opening of the cheese and whey processing facility, and contractors are working on plumbing and piping throughout the building. The administrative area has structural steel in place. Lighting is being installed in various areas. The maintenance shop is being framed and drywalled.
Hilmar said a “significant milestone” was achieved in September as the first piece of processing equipment arrived and was moved into place.
“We appreciate the focused effort of the 300 plus contractors each day,” Jeff Brock, director of engineering site development said in a statement. “Many of the companies building the facility are from Dodge City and the southwest and central Kansas regions.”
Other teams are preparing to staff and operate the new facility, and the human resource team has been focused on hiring. Rebecca Vallier, Hilmar’s human resource director, said the new hires are a blend of local hires and those relocating to southwest Kansas.
“We are thrilled to share with our candidates all that Dodge City has to offer them and their families,” Vallier said. “We appreciate what the City of Dodge City and the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation have done to make Dodge City a great place to live.”
Hilmar is also working toward becoming part of the Dodge City Community, and 2023 was no different with the third year Hilmar sponsoring the annual Dodge City Days Hamburger Feed. The feed featured a cheeseburger meal with Hilmar cheese on the burgers. A team of employee volunteers joined others to help serve at the event.
Once Hilmar begins processing milk into cheese and whey, the facility will have approximately 250 employees. Most employees will be hired in mid-2024. Current open positions are already posted on the company’s website at Hilmar.com under the careers section. Interested candidates can set up an alert to be notified of new openings as they become available. There is also a temporary hiring and administrative office at 2308 1st Ave., in Dodge City.
Hilmar officials also said the economic impact of the construction has been significant, and local businesses—hotels and restaurants have been busy. Local vendors have been tapped for construction materials and supplies.
“The progress we’ve made is an example of our values of relationship, integrity, improvement, teamwork and excellence in action,” David Ahlem, Hilmar’s president and CEO said. “So many have helped us come this far in the project, and we are grateful.”
What expansion means
In order to get all the milk the plant needs, Knight said there’s dairy expansions going on in southwest Kansas, and new facilities in varying stages of planning.
“In addition to the expansion of several local dairies, three new dairies are coming to the area to support the Dodge City site,” said Wesley Eveland, director of procurement at Hilmar. “We’re excited to see all the growth in the local community.”
Although Knight isn’t actively involved in the milk contracts, she’s been assisting surrounding counties to meet housing needs because of the dairy expansions.
“I think that’s what I like about this project more than anything, it’s not just affecting Dodge City/Ford County it’s really helping the whole entire region,” she said.
Knight has been helping communities identify those programs and getting them through the application process. Those include funding for rural housing, childcare and infrastructure.
“Finding a builder—a lot of times that’s the struggle in small communities is finding someone to develop the properties for you,” she said.
She’s also worked to promote the jobs at the new plant, traveling to the New Mexico State Fair with Hilmar and other events. The development corporation has also been partnering with the community college to find and provide training programs they’ve requested.
Labor was a concern when Hilmar was recruited to come to Dodge City, and the workforce has been a concern for Dodge City for decades. Knight is proud of the work the Rural Education Workforce Alliance has accomplished and Hilmar is signed up to be in their job fair.
“We continually work to create programs,” she said.
For more information, visit www.hilmar.com.
Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].
