Coshocton Grain Co. ready for business
Rebuild: It’s been a long rebuilding process, but Coshocton Grain Co. is ready to start serving customers again on Thursday, Oct. 1. Beacon photo by Josie Sellers
COSHOCTON – It’s been a long process, but Coshocton Grain Co. is ready to start serving customers again on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Demo: Eslich Wrecking Company from Louisville spent part of the winter and spring doing demolition work for Coshocton Grain Co. Beacon file photo
“We are so thankful for all our well wishers and everyone’s patience,” said Rhoda Crown, CEO of Coshocton Grain. “We are very grateful for our customer base and the community we live and work in.”
Explosion: An explosion in August 2014 shut Coshocton Grain Co. down for a little over a year while it worked to rebuild. Beacon file photo
Coshocton Grain spent the past year rebuilding after an explosion that occurred in August 2014.
Forensic engineers proved that the explosion was an accident and that regular maintenance was being done by employees, but Coshocton Grain had to wait on insurance payments before they could start rebuilding.
“Rebuilding didn’t start as soon as we wanted it to because we had to wait on insurance to approve our plans,” Crown said.
While they were waiting to get up and running, she made sure her employees and customers were taken care of.
“All of our employees maintained their benefits and wages throughout this difficult process,” Crown said. “They took turns going down to our Hebron facility and did some work around here and the office employees continued to work full time.”
She also noted that Coshocton Grain paid mileage for customers who had contracts with them to deliver their grain to another facility.
Construction started at the beginning of June and was done by Custom Agri Builders from Washington, Ind. and the electrical work was completed by Custom Agri Systems from Napoleon. Prior to them being on site, demolition of damaged structures was completed by Eslich Wrecking Company from Louisville.
“We are very pleased with the construction,” Crown said. “They did a phenomenal job. Completing a project of this size in this short of a time is amazing.”
She also is excited about changes that were made with the rebuild.
“Our two pits together will dump 35,000 bushels an hour and we will load out grain at 30,000 bushels an hour,” Crown said. “The traffic pattern also changed for easier in and out access to the facility.”
Another change that will occur is that Coshocton Grain will now operate in cooperation with Interstate Commodities Incorporated. However, the current shareholders of Coshocton Grain will still own the local facility and the Hebron one and maintain ownership of the elevators in Illinois. Coshocton Grain’s staff and Crown will continue with the company.
“Our employees are ready to get back to work,” Crown said.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Business
