Cayuga Milk Ingredients plans to expand Auburn plant for bottling, create 70 new jobs

AUBURN, N.Y. — Cayuga Milk Ingredients (CMI) is planning a “significant” expansion of its Auburn facility that’s focused on bottling, which the company calls a “new venture.”

Construction on the project, with an estimated cost of $145 million, is set for next spring, Neil Rejman, CMI board chairman, tells CNYBJ in an email.

In all, the plant expansion is expected to create 70 full-time positions, in addition to construction jobs and retention of the current staff of 91.

The expansion will help “meet the demand for shelf-stable contract manufacturing demanded by the marketplace,” the company said.

The project — a 130,000-square-foot addition on Eagle Drive in Auburn — is in its final engineering phase. It’ll add an aseptic processor, bottling, and packaging line, allowing CMI to produce finished products for the extended shelf-life beverage market.

Aseptic processing utilizes sterilization equipment to produce “safe, shelf-stable, healthy food for the community,” CMI said

Additional improvements will include expanded wastewater-treatment facilities, developing stormwater retention, trucking and parking enrichments, and utility upgrades, the company added.

The high-speed bottling line will have the ability to produce up to 150,000 gallons of milk-based drinks per day. Products will be palletized and then stored onsite in a warehouse using automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) technology.

Established in 2014, Cayuga Milk Ingredients is a farmer-owned company that processes milk from 30 family-owned dairy farms within the Finger Lakes region.