Idaho Milk Products recently celebrated the completion of a $30 million expansion in Jerome.

“We are very pleased to reach the end of a multi-faceted $30 million-plus project that has been ongoing for the last year,” CEO Daragh Maccabee said in a news release that was sent by the company on Monday.

“We have increased our capacity by a third, invested in new equipment and automation, expanded our warehouse, upgraded our people facilities and made a step change commitment to innovation and product development.”

The expansion started last October. In all, it took 266 days and 57,220 man-hours to complete, according to the release. The expansion also includes a new R&D facility, which has equipment with the ability to test ready-to-drink beverages, yogurts, ice cream, protein bars, retort processing and more.

The company said Idaho Milk Products will now be able to process an additional one million pounds of milk per day, resulting in a faster turnaround to keep up with customer demands.

“All who contributed along the way can be proud of the achievements in the first decade and all of us here today are excited at the potential for the next one,” Maccabee said.

Dr. Chenchaiah Marella, vice president of Research and Product Development, said the state-of-the art pilot plant, among the other expansion changes, “represents a step change in our customer collaboration and new product development capabilities enabling us to  provide technical support and application assistance in a timely manner, and with increased levels of confidence and credibility.”

Vice President of Sales and Marketing Joe Henry added:

I’m very thankful the ownership group had the vision to invest in this expansion in southern Idaho. This expansion allows us to serve the growing needs of our customers for years to come.

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