75 years of business in Gainesville

To mark the occasion, the company celebrated with a luncheon where Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black and Georgia State Senator Butch Miller along with Executive Management from Marel spoke to the audience.

Over 370 people attended the celebration, which opened with remarks by Folkert Bölger and Roger Claessens, both Executive Vice Presidents (EVP) of Marel, who took the opportunity to thank past and present employees for their dedication and hard work carried out in partnership with the customers to transform food processing.

Claessens touched on the many innovations that have changed the landscape of the poultry industry. Following that, Commissioner Black addressed the crowd thanking Marel employees for their dedication and remembered to the importance the company plays in Georgia agricultural helping the family farm on a daily bases. Senator Miller continued the celebration by thanking Marel for the affects the company has had on the Gainesville community and poultry industry on a global level.

In 1944, Gainesville Machine Company was established as a metal working job shop, specializing in welding fabrication and machining. A major milestone for the company was in 1960 with the development of the first non-reverse defeathering machine. This development allowed processors to increase line speeds from 200 birds per hour to 12,000. By 1973, the company needed more space, so Marel moved operations to the current location at Airport Parkway. In 1975, Stork Acquisitions Corporation acquired the company and in 2008, Marel Food Systems acquired Stork Food Systems.

Today, Gainesville is Marel’s key manufacturing facility operating in North America and part of Marel’s global supply chain, which spans 13 manufacturing sites in total. There are 380 full-time employees based out of Gainesville who work in a diverse range of functions including specialized and technical manufacturing jobs, marketing and sales, service, engineering, finance and more. The facility not only manufactures advanced food processing solutions, it also stores and ships all spare parts orders from this location to customers in North and South America. The poultry industry remains the largest focus of the business in Gainesville; however, the facility also manufactures and services equipment for the meat industry.

In the US, Marel is active in poultry, meat, fish and further processing. There are over 800 employees throughout North America and there are operations in four locations: Kansas City, Kansas; Des Moines, Iowa; Gainesville, Georgia and Seattle, Washington.