Rogers Group Experts in Crushed Stone, Aggregates, Gravel, Asphalt Paving, Road Construction, Quarries for 100 Years

Customer Focus:
Griffin Industries'
Newberry Plant

Recently a small group from the Bloomington Specialty Products team visited the Griffin Industries Newberry Plant. The group consisted of Karen Crulo (Customer Service), Danny Brinegar (Quality), Jack Klingler (Production), Robert Jones (Area Manager) and Bill Marvin (Sales). It is part of an ongoing program to “better understand our customers and their needs.”

The Griffin Newberry rendering plant is located forty-five minutes southwest of Bloomington. We learned that Griffin Industries has been a privately owned company for over fifty-four years and is presently managed by five Griffin sons. Griffin Industries, Inc. is the second largest rendering company in the United States with twenty-five plants primarily located in Southeastern. They are presently going through a major expansion with new facilities in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Recently Griffin diversified through the acquisition of a bakery by-products division.

Jim Davis, General Manager, operates the Newberry facility with 55 employees. We learned that they recycle animal by-products. Long gone is the old image of rendering plants we realized as we toured the clean, virtually odor free grounds. Mr. Davis explained that they get a majority of their animal by-products from large packinghouses, grocery stores, and small locker plants. A small portion of their business is still attained through the pickup of local animals from farmers. Griffin freights in the animal parts with its own open top trailers. Bird feathers go through a hydrolyzation process before entering the dryer where they are cooked into protein to be used in feeds and oils. Poultry producers prefer it because of its high calorie content. Griffin furnishes high protein feeds to Ralston, Carnation, and CalCan. They also produces oils that are used in products that are marketed by Hills (pet foods), Perdue, Turkey Farms, and Land O Lakes. One of the more exotic consumers of Griffins oils include the cosmetics companies. Other customers include the tire, rubber and explosives industries.

Rogers Specialty Products Limestone plays an integral part in the rendering process. It controls the sulfur emission from local coals in the boiler. The plant uses several thousand tons of specialty limestone per year. The specialty limestone is fed with the coal to provide steam for the cooking process (drying process). Without a quality, readily available limestone product they would not be able to produce steam. Mr. Davis explained that they are environmentally responsible and was proud that they had gone 3 years without a lost time accident. They are very involved in the community with livestock sales for 4 H, helping with churches, local festivals, as well as school activities that included involvement in promoting local reading programs. Griffin’s headquarters are located in Coldspring, Kentucky. They market their products with their own barge distribution system throughout Europe, Asia, and South America.

Griffin’s website is www.griffinind.com or for more information write Jim Davis, Griffin Industries, Inc. P. O. Box 98, Newberry, IN 47449. Our tour left us each with a better understanding of the other’s needs. We also found that our two companies, a rendering company and a limestone producer were more alike than we were different.