Washington Indiana is proud to to be home to GPC’s new $250 million plant. The 1,000 acre facility will potentially utilize 75,000 bushels of local corn daily. Currently employing 130, the plant operates on a 24/7 schedule 365 days a year. The plant produces 190-200 proof alcohol for the beverage and pharmaceutical industries, corn starch for box and paper mills and feed by products including corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal.
GPC also plans to produce maltodextren, a high carbohydrate sweetener used in prepared foods, energy drinks, snack foods and packaged mixes at the plant.
Lisa Klopfenstein, HR Manager of GPC’s Washington facility sites a number of factors for the company’s choice of location. The area’s similarity in small town values to headquarters in Iowa, availability of qualified labor, work ethic and friendliness of the people were all key.
Ken Jones, Manager of GPC states that the location, central to the US, will help GPC in supplying products worldwide. “Shipping costs are of vital importance,” he said, “as are the rail service, excellent highway system and the closeness of the Ohio River and its local ports. We are now much closer to our European, South American and Eastern US customers.”
“Abundance of high quality corn, our primary resource, and excellent land at a fair value were also very important,” Jones said.
It would appear that GPC and the community have formed a mutual admiration society. According to David Cox, Executive Director of the Daviess Growth Council, “GPC has been a model corporate citizen from the beginning. The company has had a significant impact on the area’s economy far beyond the jobs it provides.”
He says, “Spin off industries have added needed dollars to our tax base and the resultant airport and highway improvements are dramatic.”
For more information on Daviess County, contact:
Ron Arnold 812-254-1500
(growth@dmrtc.net)
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