BUILDING ON GREEN FOUNDATIONS

Corporate Report Wisconsin, May 2008 by Welch, Jamie

Holding it all together, low- or no-volatile-organic-compound products were specified for adhesives, paints and carpeting, and carbon dioxide levels are constantly monitored.

"We were sensitive to the environment," said School Board President Tom Christensen. "Everyone walks into the building and says, 'Wow.'"

Kettle Foods plant, Beloit

In 1978 Cameron Healy started Kettle Foods in Salem, Ore., with no working capital and a beat-up van selling cheese, roasted nuts and trail mixes along Interstate 5. Still a privately owned firm, Kettle produces all-natural potato chips and trail mixes, and when looking to add a factory to their already existing plants in Oregon and Norwich, U.K., the British owners chose the southern Wisconsin city of Beloit thanks to a $500,000 incentive from the State. Completed last year, the facility is the first LEED Gold Certified manufacturing plant in Wisconsin.

Designed and built by ACS of Madison, the 73,000-sq.-ft. building processes 50 million pounds of Russet potatoes. Along with adding about 100 new jobs and an $18 million economic impact on Beloit, the site maintains Kettle's commitment to sustainable principles.

Landscaped on 11 acres of rolling prairie, the stylish and modern structures were designed to be functional and pleasing to the workforce, as well as Mother Nature. More than 35% of the building materials were harvested or extracted from within a radius of 500 miles, and 78% of the construction waste materials were recycled or salvaged. Energy efficient windows allow 90% of the workers to see the great outdoors from their workstations.

"Kettle has a strong commitment to the comfort of its employees," said ACS President Jim Corkery. "During construction we had to cut the packaging area windows bigger to get that full 90%. You can see from the beautiful break room, for a manufacturing facility, they invest in their people."

All of the cooking oil is re-used before being converted to biodiesel. By filtering and reusing potato wash water, millions of gallons of water will be saved, and 120,000 gallons more will be conserved by diverting excess filtered water to facility restrooms.

Lastly, the factory has 18 wind turbines on its roof that generate 28,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to produce more than 50,000 bags of potato chips.