Pete Steimer, director of cultivation for Temescal Wellness, describes the automation that will be used in growing and harvesting cannabis at the new cultivation center in the former Crane Stationery building in North Adams. While much of the process will be conducted by machines, there is still work for people to do. Steimer said the company is looking to hire about 80 people to start, and will likely swell the ranks to over 100.
NORTH ADAMS — By the end of October, if all goes well, Temescal Wellness will be producing 300 pounds of marijuana a week in the facility that formerly housed Crane Stationery on Curran Highway.
During a tour of the nearly completed cannabis factory, Pete Steimer, director of cultivation, expressed excitement at the prospect of moving forward.
Pete Steimer, director of cultivation for Temescal Wellness, describes the automation that will be used in growing and harvesting cannabis at the new cultivation center in the former Crane Stationery building in North Adams. “We’re trying to minimize the number of times the plants are touched because that can damage the health of the plant,” he said.
The production area in the 71,000-square-foot building is getting finishing touches.
Steimer described a highly automated process that mixes fertilizer with water in 3,000-gallon tanks for watering the plants. Automation handles replanting germinated plants into bigger pots, then waters the entire batch.
As the plants grow they will be moved from one automated line to another, and when ready for harvest, automation handles the bud-trimming task and sorts them by size. The temperature and humidity for the drying process is also automated.
“We’re trying to minimize the number of times the plants are touched because that can damage the health of the plant,” Steimer said.
Temescal Wellness is on the verge of operating an industrial building for growing and harvesting cannabis in the former Crane Stationery building in North Adams. Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022.
While much of the process is conducted by machines, there is still work for people to do. Steimer said the company is looking to hire about 80 people to start, and will likely swell the ranks to over 100.
New crops will be planted every week. With the automation, it will be a perpetual harvest, Steimer noted.
The former Crane site has been equipped with additional insulation and the building’s envelope sealed, he said. Steimer said no smells from cultivation will escape into the neighborhood. No residential areas are nearby.
Once the harvested cannabis is ready, it will be shipped to a plant in the Springfield area for packaging. Steimer said the product grown in North Adams will be available in local cannabis dispensaries.
