Wade's Dairy

In order to maintain milk production levels with this loss of business to the stores, the third generation gambled on an experimental machine called a spin-welder in the early seventies. The spin-welder formed plastic into a bottle, filled it with milk or juice, sealed it, and automatically case-packed at very high speeds. Wade's Dairy aggressively bid local school and state contracts and was soon packaging a six-fold increase of over 100,000 half pints of milk daily. The machine was innovative, and visitors from around the world came to tour our facility. A problem emerged, however, with the school year contracts in that plant production slowed to a crawl during summers and financial losses during these months seriously detracted from other months' gains. A solution presented itself in the opportunity to package a fruit drink called Bingo during the warmer weather.