Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, Calif., opened the doors to its new 52,000-square-foot, energy-saving manufacturing facility in Salida, Calif.

This announcement follows the company’s groundbreaking of its receiving warehouse on the same property in Salida, which is said to be the largest almond receiving station in the world.

"It's an exciting time for Blue Diamond, as we continue to invest in our facilities here in Salida and across the Central Valley to better meet the growing demand for our products worldwide," says Mark Jansen, president and CEO. "The new building design and innovative processing technology we're deploying provides the highest quality almonds to our customers and consumers."

The new energy-saving and sustainable manufacturing facility was engineered to support future expansion plans as needed. Within the facility, Blue Diamond is said to be the first in the almond industry to use Log5 technology across two of its natural pasteurization lines – one for processing whole almonds and the other for dry roasting on an integrated line. A third line uses an innovative design with custom features to produce what is dubbed the finest flour texture in the industry.

The new CALGreen facility features several energy-saving attributes, including LED lighting, a multi-staged HVAC system and temperature-controlled processes. The new facility also houses separate room enclosures with electronic-controlled entry to better control environmental conditions, along with automated pressurized air and automated controls for all processes and packaging, including monitoring line performance, yields and downtime. Additionally, the integrated processing lines move finished product direct to cold storage and shipping, and will greatly reduce material handling and trucking costs. Beneath the facility, buried perforated pipe will keep stormwater on-site to recharge the ground water and deliver it directly to the soil.