Ornua announces $10 million expansion in St. John/Woodville

The Brillion News

TOWN OF WOODVILLE - Ornua, the trade name used by the Irish Dairy Board Cooperative, has announced a $10 million new investment in its production facility in the hamlet of St. John, northwest of Hilbert.

The addition will increase production capacity by 30 percent at the cheese-making facility, and create 30 to 50 new jobs in coming years.

With this investment, announced on Wednesdya, July 15, Ornua will have invested $23 million total in the rural Hilbert operation since it purchase the former Thiel Cheese plant.

The facility, located in the heart of Wisconsin’s dairyland, already boasts some of the most advanced dairy processing equipment in the U.S. dairy sector and includes a state-of-the-art innovation research and product development center that provides functional cheese solutions to Ornua’s U.S. food ingredient and food service customers.

Ornua Ingredients North America, which employs over 265 people, operates two cheese-making facilities: the Hilbert-St. John plant and another in Byron, Minnesota.

Breaking ground were (L>R) Rick Pederson and Tim Gieson of Ornua Ingredients North America and Lance VandenHeuvel of Bayland Structures, the cointractor building the addition.

~ This is an advance story. A complete report will be featured in the July 23 print edition of THE BRILLION NEWS. Thanks to The Irish Times and Radio Telefis Eireann for assistance with this story.