CHAMPAIGN – Arnold Logistics, a Pennsylvania-based warehousing company, is expanding its operation in Champaign thanks to growing business from a key customer, ACH Food Companies, formerly AC Humko.

Arnold Logistics began operations in Champaign with seven employees last November and is now running around the clock with 60 people. Most of the new hires were added in the past few months, according to Stan Schrader, vice president of business development.

Schrader said the company may be doing some further hiring, based on projected growth in business from ACH Foods.

"ACH Foods is looking at future expansion, so we're continuing to interview," he added.

In the past eight months, Arnold Logistics has about doubled its space at the former Southland Corp. complex at 2309 Bloomington Road. The company is now leasing 400,000 square feet there and is in the process of adding more, Schrader said.

Arnold Logistics provides distribution and plant support services on a long-term contract for ACH Foods. It shuttles products coming off the line at the nearby ACH Foods plant at 710 N. Mattis Ave. to its own facility and receives products coming from other manufacturing sites. Employees process orders and prepare them for carriers to pick up, Schrader said.

Among the products coming in are salad oils, salad dressings, corn syrup, corn starch and nondairy creamers, he said.

Arnold Logistics, based in Camp Hill, Pa., has been in business since 1976 and operates at 21 locations nationwide. Its central Pennsylvania campus, a group of buildings totaling 3.6 million square feet, is its largest.

Schrader said the company hopes to replicate a similar-size campus in the Midwest, most likely in the Champaign or Chicago areas.

"Champaign works for us because it's centrally located between Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis," he said. "We're thinking of using this as a launching point."

Schrader said his company has also found a good employment base in Champaign.

"Right now, we're able to get very good labor," he said.

You can reach Debra Pressey at (217) 351-5229 or via e-mail at dpressey@news-gazette.com.