CERRITOS, Calif. — One of the world's top food and beverage flavor companies is growing its presence in the U.S. market with the opening of an expansive new Southern California facility dedicated to the production of sweet food and beverage flavors.
T. Hasegawa USA officially opened a new 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Rancho Cucamonga, which augments the company's manufacturing resources in the U.S. market by 50% and expands capabilities in sweet flavor production and technology.
The new facility was opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by T. Hasegawa USA CEO Tom Damiano and the company's U.S. leadership team, who toured the new plant to observe the extensive manufacturing workspace, technical equipment and industry-leading safety equipment.
"Our business has experienced rapid, organic growth in recent years and this manufacturing plant will increase our current production while playing a key role in our growth strategy moving forward," said Damiano. "This new facility will continue to expand the production of our best-in-class food and beverage flavor offerings and industry-leading technology, while better serving our current and future customers' needs."
In addition to significantly increasing T. Hasegawa's production capabilities, the new factory will open the door for continued growth of the company's U.S. staff.
"While the large new plant will help us meet increased supply chain demands for food and beverage flavors – this facility also signals an expansion of our world-class team," said Chris Grayson, vice president of operations. "We'll be increasing our company headcount by more than 30 percent over the next five years, including highly-skilled positions in manufacturing, R&D and other specialty areas."
The new manufacturing facility offers an expansion of the company's manufacturing workspace by nearly 400%. T. Hasegawa will continue operations from its U.S. corporate headquarters in Cerritos, California, which also serves as the primary location for R&D and production of savory flavors. The company plans to expand its savory food flavor manufacturing at the Cerritos location after sweet flavor production shifts to the new Rancho Cucamonga facility. The Rancho Cucamonga facility will primarily service the production of sweet food and beverage flavors, and features state-of-the-art large capacity equipment for liquid blending, spray dry technology for powdered flavors, and extraction equipment for flavor extractions.
The large production facility also features high-tech tooling used for development and manufacturing of T. Hasegawa's recent product innovations, including BOOSTRACT and EmulsiTRACT kokumi-enriching products and developing proprietary technologies.
"We have a strong 'customer-first' culture at T. Hasegawa, and this new manufacturing plant will allow us to deliver on the quality and volume of flavors that our customers expect," said Mark Webster, vice president of sales and business development at T. Hasegawa USA. "The increased production capabilities of this new facility allow us to focus on our commitment to quality, service and technology, which has made T. Hasegawa a recognized global leader in food and beverage flavors for over a century."
T. Hasegawa's new manufacturing facility was constructed with a specific focus on environmental protection, as part of the company's global commitment to sustainability. The facilities meet or exceed compliance with local regulations and feature state-of-the-art air cleaning and filtration systems, including regenerative thermal oxidizers and catalytic oxidizers, consistent with all T. Hasegawa's manufacturing facilities. In addition to maintaining clear air quality for employees and the local community, T. Hasegawa is also committed to recycling programs at all facilities that minimize the use of plastics in R&D, production and administration.
