- 3 minutes ago
garbage
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Okay so we're here at the Poland Spring flagship facility. So this was the start
00:06of it all and we take a lot of pride in that. So what we're going to do is show
00:10you the factory. Basically we have 11 production lines running today so we are
00:15running all out today. So it's exciting for you to be here now to see that when
00:19we're in full go. So clearly safety first? Yes absolutely. Safety and quality are the
00:27two most important things when we start every day is making sure we're making a
00:31quality product and then also that make sure everybody is safe. I like it. Let's do it.
00:37We have 11 production lines here at the facility so we make anything from half
00:43liter bottles to the Poland Spring one gallon and sparkling and then each one
00:47of those production lines has five six piece of equipment per line. So my job is
00:53to maintain them. We have 30 amazing mechanics that work for our staff. The
00:58water is coming in from we have sources on site so half the water we're using is
01:04coming from our springs on site then the other half is tankered in from springs
01:09through the state. So from that moment it comes in we are blowing the bottles and
01:15then that is sent to the fillers that's where we introduce the water to the
01:19bottle. We label it, package it and from there it goes right to the customer. That
01:25some of it's going right from the line right into a truck to customers. Our
01:30factory has a ton of pride. Our employees are very prideful in what they do from
01:35our mechanics to our quality department and I think that all comes from the
01:39history here specifically it being the flagship factory for Poland Spring and
01:45they've seen the bottle water business grow right in this facility. So I think
01:51that's where you see the history that we have here. I think it's amazing that I can
01:58have an engineering degree and have an amazing career in the state of Maine
02:02because there was a point I didn't think that was going to be possible. I love the
02:07four seasons. I love the outdoors. My wife and my kids we are always outside the
02:14beaches, going to the lake swimming in the summertime. In the winter we love
02:19downhill skiing. We love, we are just outdoors people and I think that's what I
02:23love most about the state of Maine. So in 2015 I started a recruiting event with the
02:28University of Maine for engineers. Getting students, showing them what our company is
02:32all about and then providing them with an opportunity to work through the
02:35summers. It's making sure that these kids know that this is a great career and
02:40that it's an opportunity for them to not have to leave the state where they can
02:45stay in the state of Maine, have an amazing career and have tons of growth
02:49potential. We as a company take huge pride in being very involved with our
02:54community. We're always in the community talking with people and just recently we
03:00went to the Good Shepherd Food Bank and helped them for a day. It's something that
03:05we as a whole company, our facility specifically, like really has a lot of
03:11pride in. I love my job. You know I learn something new every day. I am never bored.
03:17I am always doing something, learning something and I have the flexibility to
03:22have such a great home life with my kids, my wife, which is important to me and
03:27being in the state that I love. Hi, welcome to the Poland Spring Museum. I'm Heather. I'm the
03:33Community Relations Manager for Poland Spring. I started working here 18 years
03:37ago and really just fell in love with the history and the heritage of the
03:40company. We see about 1,500 to 2,000 visitors a year so a lot of public
03:45interaction. I really just value what this property provides. We have you know four
03:51miles of hiking trails, we have the golf course when you drive in, the museums on
03:56the property. It's just a really great place to be. So our company has grown quite a
04:01bit from when we were 25 employees operating out of this facility. We're now
04:06up to nearly 900 in the state. We have three bottling facilities, 10 spring sites
04:11and what that means or equates to is that people like myself can live in Maine, stay
04:18in Maine, raise their families and be really satisfied with a job that is in a
04:24rural part of the state. I love living in a small community. I live right here in
04:29Poland. I raise my family here. My kids attend a great school system and it's
04:34just really prideful to be a part of this small community. So this is the
04:40original source for Poland spring water. So back in about 1844 the water was
04:47discovered and at the time there wasn't this grand structure that covered the
04:51source. It was just a spring in the middle of the woods. So lo and behold once
04:57the Rickers who were the founders of the property really discovered the what they
05:02considered to be magical powers back then. They wanted to protect it. They
05:07wanted to ensure that there was no impurities, that there were no impacts to
05:12the water. So they ended up building this grand structure and back then people
05:16drank a lot of surface water. They were drinking a lot of alcohol, caused kidney
05:21stones, had acid reflux. So when they found this source of water that looked clean
05:27they started drinking it and they raved about it. They felt magical after
05:33drinking it and that they were completely cured of any illness that they
05:37may have had. So if you can imagine back then they you know people all around the
05:43world were hearing about this water and so they flocked to Poland spring. So this is
05:48a great spot because you're able to kind of look out through this plate glass window
05:53and see what would have been the bottling room operations that would have taken
05:58place at the time. So there were 25 male employees at the time. They all had to
06:03shower every morning before they came down here to get to work and not shower at
06:07home either. We actually have shower stalls upstairs. So they would shower in
06:11Poland spring water and then put on clean white linen uniforms and then come
06:16down here and get to work.
06:17So this gentleman over here with the great sideburns is Hiram Ricker. So he's
06:22considered the founder of Poland spring and all the other photos are folks who
06:27visited for the most part. So Babe Ruth playing golf on the golf course. I think we
06:34have Mae West over there. Taft, Roosevelt and Harding are along this wall. Lindbergh flying over the golf course.
06:43One of the really unique things about this building again is the shower stall room
06:48which is my absolute favorite. It's kind of hidden back here in the corner and once
06:54you come and take a peek around you'll see why. So these were the shower stalls and
07:01these were where the... Everybody says that when they come in. Sorry I should have warned you.
07:08Fred. We call him Fred. We had some school kids name him.
07:13So these were where the gentleman had to shower every morning. So big copper hot water tank up above.
07:20Again they bathed in Poland spring and if you think about it back then indoor plumbing was barely even a
07:26thing. So the fact that you were able to come to work and get a hot shower, clean clothes, clean
07:32shoes
07:33and then go down the back staircase and just get to work. They had great skin and hair. Oh my
07:39gosh.
07:39I know. Can you imagine? So thank you for coming out today. You know we didn't get to talk a
07:45lot about
07:45all the history of Poland spring but there's more opportunity too. The museum is open Thursday through
07:51Saturday Memorial Day through Columbus Day and we'd love to have you back again. Very good. Thank you
07:56for the tour. Yeah cheers. Cheers to Maine and the history.