ANGOLA — Miller Poultry has seen a huge increase in business as it tries to meet demand to provide product during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While receiving approval for compliance of tax abatements on the books with Steuben County, Miller officials spoke about the trials the company went through with COVID-19 Tuesday morning.
“We did continue to work through the whole COVID thing. We are essential, providing food, protein,” said Kevin Diehl, vice president of plant operations at Miller, Orland. “Our business through this whole thing is just went through the roof.”
Diehl said business has tripled in certain areas and in some instances quadrupled due to demand. The private company did not release any exact numbers.
“Business has been very good,” Diehl said.
The company was anticipating business in certain new lines but the demand was not there so production was altered to suit customer needs.
This all came with the company, like many meat processing plants in the country, was trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through its workforce.
After what appeared on the surface as a small outbreak in late April, Miller had all of its plant tested for COVID-19 using a special clinic set up on site by Cameron Memorial Community Hospital on May 1-2.
As it turned out, 136 out of 791 employees tested — or 17% — were positive for COVID-19.
“Many of those, the high percentage of those, were asymptomatic positive. That really surprised us,” Diehl said.
Miller has about 815 people working at the plant, 775 in production and 40 salaried.
“We’re back up to full strength,” Diehl said. Measures were put in place to protect workers from one another to prevent the spread.
Some pork and beef packing plants across the country have been extremely hard hit by the coronavirus. Diehl said Miller has been fortunate it was not hit with an outbreak rivaling those of others in the packing industry.
“The pork and beef industry was much harder hit,” Diehl said.
Karen Brenneman, controller for Miller, presented a variety of numbers to reflect the history of the company’s tax abatement projects with Steuben County. (The tax abatements are through the county because Miller lies outside of Orland’s corporate boundaries.)
Over the course of the company’s tax abatements and the current one on the books, employment levels have been met and missed on various projects, though the bottom line is the company has increased wages for existing employees and has raised starting salaries.
In one example, the company’s employment went down by about 50 employees but payroll went up about $1.6 million.
The company is currently working on another addition to its plant, one that has yet to receive any tax breaks for real or personal property. This project should come on line in September.
New equipment is being installed in August and September with hiring to start in August so employees can be trained.
Diehl said the positions required for this new equipment will require more skilled workers.
“There’s a number of high level salaries opening up,” Brenneman said.
Miller, which keeps expanding its footprint in the county, will request tax abatement for this project in the coming months.
“We appreciate the support from the entire council,” Diehl said.
The new addition will meaning phasing in an additional 60 employees.
The council also approved a compliance report from D.A.S. Services, which is also emerging from COVID-19 in a positive way.
Barbara Short, who founded the company with her husband, David, said the company has gotten through COVID-19 without a single layoff, in spite of a drop in business from the automotive industry.
She said the company’s business was impacted by the pandemic, but they expect to see an uptick now that the economy is reopening.
“We have been working throughout the shutdown. We had no layoffs,” she said. “Our receivables declined in May a bit.”
In the next two-three years, Short said, the company will have all of its equipment paid off, which she called light at the end of the tunnel. The company is just getting ready to do a major software upgrade.
D.A.S. just completed a 60-foot-by-75-foot addition to its facilities near Crooked Lake. The company just started its 27th year in business.
Tuesday’s meeting of the council was its first session since March 10 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had shut down many parts of Steuben County government. While the council typically meets monthly, it only is required to meet once a year or when emergency spending matters arise. The council is the county’s fiscal body.
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