News
CRL breaks ground on new manufacturing facility

Aug. 23, 2010 — C.R. Laurence (CRL) broke ground recently on a new 310,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Vernon, California. Eleven acres of land on 55th St. were prepared for the facility which is estimated to be complete as of February 2011. The Mayor of Vernon, Hilario Gonzales, participated along with members of the Vernon City Council, the City Manager, and other dignitaries. 

Aug. 23, 2010 — C.R. Laurence (CRL) broke ground recently on a new 310,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Vernon, California. Eleven acres of land on 55th St. were prepared for the facility which is estimated to be complete as of February 2011. The Mayor of Vernon, Hilario Gonzales, participated along with members of the Vernon City Council, the City Manager, and other dignitaries.

Left to Right:  Lloyd Talbert, President of CRL; Mark Whitworth, City of Vernon Fire Chief; Don Friese, CEO; Hilario "Larry" Gonzales, City of Vernon Mayor; W. Michael McCormick, Mayor ProTempore; William “Bill” Davis, Council Member; Richard J. Maisano, Council Member.

Donald E. Friese, CRL’s Chairman and CEO, remarks, “With this new manufacturing facility, CRL will have close to 1,000,000 square feet of office, distribution, and manufacturing operations in Vernon. This kind of expansion could not take place without the continued and growing support of our customers, and we are most appreciative of the help and encouragement they provide. We are grateful to the City of Vernon, Mayor Gonzales, and all the local officials whose assistance and cooperation helped make this possible.”

Friese continues, “This past year has been marked with tremendous growth for CRL.  CRL of Europe recently completed the construction of our new 75,000 sq. ft. headquarters near Manchester, England, and is now serving customers from this location. We also completed and moved into our new 65,000 sq. ft. facility at 2450 Vernon Avenue across the street from our headquarters complex. This facility houses the manufacturing operations of our newly acquired Jackson Manufacturing and Blumcraft of Pittsburgh companies, two very well known and respected companies in the industry.”
 
Friese concludes, “The new manufacturing facility is intended to house new growth as we expand our manufacturing operations and our product lines.  Our 38th St. manufacturing facility will continue to be fully operational.  As a company, we continually challenge ourselves to grow and improve, bringing our customers the finest and most comprehensive line of products in the industry.”

Tilt-up panel construction will be used for the new manufacturing structure. Oltmans Construction of Whittier, California, is the contractor and was also responsible for the construction of CRL’s new Vernon Avenue facility. The project architect is RGA Office of Architectural Design from Irvine, California.

C.R. Laurence also has manufacturing operations in Cicero, Illinois, England, and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

For more information, please visit www.crlaurence.ca .