Santee Dairies Processing & Distribution Facility

Big-D Construction built this new dairy processing and distribution facility in the late 1990s. Encompassing approximately 250,000-sf, at the time of construction completion, it was one of the largest dairy plants in the United States and incorporated state-of-the-art technologies. Forward thinking innovation included a palletless Automated Storage & Retrieval System (AS/RS) which enabled significant reduction in labor in the cooler load-out area by as much as 50 percent and thereby decreasing operating costs. Completion of this project enabled Santee Dairies to be positioned as the “low-cost producer” within the dairy industry. In years to come, Santee Dairies would be acquired by Dean Foods and the plant is currently an Alta Dena facility.