Ceremony celebrates new food processing plant in Middlesex

With new equipment being installed daily, commercial production is slated to start in January at the new SinnovaTek/FirstWave Innovations plant in the Middlesex Corporate Center.

FirstWave Commercialization Manager Jenn Moore explains how microwave aseptic food processing works on Wednesday during a tour of the facility.

Officials tour the new FirstWave Innovations plant on Oct.

26, 2022, at the Middlesex Corporate Centre.

SinnovaTek CEO Michael Druga speaks as, seated from left, Nash County Economic Development Director Andy Hagy, Middlesex Mayor Lu Harvey Lewis, Nash County board Chairman Robbie Davis and SinnovaTek’s Chief Innovation Officer Amanda Vargochick look on during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the company’s new plant in the Middlesex Corporate Center.

FirstWave Commercialization Manager Jenn Moore explains how microwave aseptic food processing works on Wednesday during a tour of the facility.

Officials tour the new FirstWave Innovations plant on Oct.

26, 2022, at the Middlesex Corporate Centre.

SinnovaTek CEO Michael Druga speaks as, seated from left, Nash County Economic Development Director Andy Hagy, Middlesex Mayor Lu Harvey Lewis, Nash County board Chairman Robbie Davis and SinnovaTek’s Chief Innovation Officer Amanda Vargochick look on during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the company’s new plant in the Middlesex Corporate Center.

With new equipment being installed daily, commercial production is slated to start in January at the new SinnovaTek/FirstWave Innovations plant in the Middlesex Corporate Center.

To celebrate, company officials, a large contingent of the plant’s employees and officials from Nash County and the Town of Middlesex held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site Wednesday morning.

More than 100 people attended the event under cloudy skies, but spirits were not dampened and the rain stayed away.

Michael Druga, CEO of the Raleigh-based firm, said he expects production will begin with a workforce of between 40 and 45 working on two of the plant’s four planned production lines.

In 18 months — when all the lines are operational — the workforce will have grown to 75, Druga added.

“We committed to the state and the county that we were going to do $10 million of investment and create 40 jobs.

We’re actually looking at putting in $20 million of investment in this facility now and creating 75 jobs out here,” Druga told the gathering.

The Nash County Board of Commissioners in March approved a five-year incentive package for SinnovaTek/FirstWave.

To qualify for the incentives, SinnovaTek promised to create a minimum of 25 jobs that pay at least $50,000 annually.

Middlesex Mayor Lu Harvey Lewis said construction on the upfitting of the shell building has come a long way since the groundbreaking ceremony in April.

“We’re anxious for them to get in the building, to have the jobs and to keep moving forward.

And I thank everybody for being here,” Lewis told the gathering outside the facility.

Nash County board Chairman Robbie Davis told the gathering that news of SinnovaTek’s purchase of the shell building created a wave of interest in what Middlesex and Nash County have to offer manufacturing firms seeking to expand their operations.

“Ever since the news broke that the shell building had been sold, it’s amazing to me how much interest we’ve seen in the park since that point.

It’s almost every week that Andy (Hagy, director of Nash County Economic Development) and Susan (Phelps, economic developer) has somebody for us to meet with,” Davis said.

“We expect to be back here many times moving forward.” SinnovaTek builds and sells equipment for aseptic food production.

Its subsidiary, FirstWave Innovations, is its food processing division.

The Middlesex plant will be capable of doing large-scale food production runs or smaller limited production runs, depending on the client’s needs, Druga said.

Aseptic food processing eliminates bacteria in food, giving the food an extremely long shelf life.

Druga said FirstWave’s microwave process of eliminating food bacteria is capable of producing food that looks better, tastes better and has more nutritional value than other aseptic processes.

Druga said his company’s microwave technology will change perceptions of how good processed foods can be.