Lawrence Equipment facility breaks ground in Sherman

SHERMAN, Texas — Lawrence Equipment broke ground Feb. 18 on a corn-milling production facility at 4811 Tortilla Way in Sherman, according to a Sherman Economic Development Corporation announcement. The ceremony marked the start of construction on a facility planned to support food-production operations. The project is located in Progress Park, where SEDCO said supporting infrastructure improvements are part of the development. Lawrence Equipment is a California-headquartered manufacturer of equipment used to produce flatbread and snack foods. SEDCO said the new Sherman facility will support production operations for Molinos USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lawrence Equipment, and is designed to expand the company’s capacity to serve food-production customers. The source announcement describes the project as a large-scale production facility and a manufacturing investment, but it does not provide a construction-completion date, number of jobs, production target or total capital amount. A May 19 KTEN report, also republished by SEDCO, described the facility as a corn-milling operation for food products and said a recent groundbreaking recognized a $1.3 million investment made two years earlier. The report did not provide additional details about the investment or clarify whether the figure covered the full development. The February ceremony included representatives of HBA Design Build, Sherman Mayor Shawn Teamann and members of the Lawrence family. In SEDCO’s release, company and economic-development officials described the project as an addition to Sherman’s industrial and food-manufacturing base. The project was announced months before the July 15 scrape date. The sources reviewed establish that construction was underway in February and that the operation was still being described as a new business in Progress Park in May. They do not report that the facility has opened or begun production. The development joins Sherman’s broader effort to attract manufacturing, while adding a food-production operation distinct from the region’s semiconductor projects. Future reporting from the company or SEDCO would be needed to establish the opening date, workforce size and production schedule.