Manitowoc Foodservice is excited to announce its investment in expanded manufacturing and a new operating company headquarters for the Americas Ovens –operating company at its Cleveland, Ohio, location.
“The consolidation of our Americas ovens manufacturing and related business activities in one location is a unique step forward in the foodservice equipment industry,” says Mike Kachmer, president of Manitowoc Foodservice.
“We are proud to be the first foodservice equipment manufacturer to establish a facility of this magnitude, which brings great benefits to our customers all over the world,” he says. “Through this consolidation and our ongoing investments in Cleveland, Manitowoc will improve the service we provide to our customers with easier mixing of products for shipment, consolidated business operations, and greater reinvestment in product development.”
The new 30,000-square-foot Americas headquarters operation will significantly strengthen Manitowoc’s ability to provide integrated product and service solutions for its foodservice customers, which include leading global chain restaurants, regional chains and independent restaurants, and hospitality and institutional foodservice facilities worldwide.
Improvements to the Cleveland operations include new quality systems, computerized work instructions, lean workflow systems, and state-of-the-art warehouse operations.
When this transition is completed later this year, the Cleveland facility will produce Cleveland Steamers, Garland convection ovens, Convotherm combi ovens, and Lincoln conveyor ovens.
The Cleveland-based Americas Ovens group will also market and distribute Manitowoc’s Merrychefbrand speed ovens, which are manufactured in a recently expanded global manufacturing facility in Sheffield, England.
The new regional headquarters building will also include an expanded, state-of-the-art commercial kitchen.
This kitchen will be used for expanded customer support (such as menu development and training), equipment testing, and sales training. The new kitchen will have video and audio capabilities for remote instruction and demonstrations, along with recording capabilities to support Manitowoc’s growing use of Web-based information solutions.
As part of the consolidation, Manitowoc will cease manufacturing operations at its Fort Wayne, Indiana, facility over the next several months.
To provide continuity of support services, Manitowoc is also investing in a satellite office in the Fort Wayne area, where the Lincoln customer service and technical support teams will continue to provide support services to resellers, end users, and service agencies.
“We look forward to providing enhanced services to our customers under this new operations strategy and will continue to provide top-notch service and support for all their equipment needs,” says Phil Dei Dolori, executive vice president of Manitowoc Americas Foodservice Cooking Solutions.
