Greenfield Global in Chatham is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
The ethanol plant on Bloomfield Road celebrated the important milestone on Tuesday by giving its employees custom gifts, individually crafted locally by Chatham’s wood artisan, Devin Schaffner.
There are many accomplishments the plant is proud of over the past 25 years, but Greenfield's Vice President of Operations Neil Bishop said the best accomplishment is that the Chatham plant has always seen growth and no layoffs.
"Sometimes it's been tough but Greenfield has been slowly growing and there's still huge demand for the products, which is why Chatham is such a big piece of the Greenfield portfolio," said Bishop.
Plant Manager Veselin Nikolov said he is also proud of the flawless safety record at the plant.
Nikolov said one feather in their cap is a joint venture started five years ago to share heat generated by the plant with a greenhouse across the street through underground infrastructure that has reduced the steam coming from the stack.
"We're still doing some testing. So, it's on and off and it depends on how much they can accept heat as well. So, it's not only about us, but it's about both sides being able to generate and receive heat," Nikolov said.
Nikolov said the plant added a $35 million dryer that took care of the smell coming from the stack as well.
Nikolov said the plant is also introducing new technology which will cut down on the use of natural gas and make the plant more efficient.
Greenfield's Vice President of Communications Val Picher said the company's strength is its people. She said roughly eight of the plant's 87 employees have been working at the Chatham site since the beginning.
Picher also said Greenfield as a whole keeps working on developing a cleaner version of jet fuel.