Oct 20, 2006 8:50 AM, from staff and wire reports

Laurel MD is now home to one of the world’s largest ice cream plants. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc recently celebrated the completion of a $210 million expansion of its Laurel Operations Center (LOC), the largest of its six ice cream manufacturing facilities nationwide.

LOC will make and distribute more than 120 different Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Haagen-Dazs, Nestlé, and Skinny Cow ice cream products and frozen snacks.

Dreyer’s has hired another 450 employees to staff the new 705,000-square-foot facility. More than 725 employees now work at the Laurel plant, and the company plans to add 240 employees over the next two years, creating a total of nearly 700 new jobs.

The plant has grown more than sixfold in size and has the square footage of more than 14 football fields. Besides adding five new ice cream manufacturing lines to its previous six, Dreyer’s has added the capacity for nine future lines. It also has built a 200,000-sq-ft, –20° F ice cream curing facility and 23-door distribution center.