TRI-CITIES AND YAKIMA, Washington — Corey Smith’s office window overlooks one of the massive production lines inside the Douglas Fruit processing plant at the outskirts of Pasco, Washington. The scene is fantastic, like something out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Conveyor belts fill the gigantic room. On one end, apples are dumped by the bin into a water flume that floats the fruit like a carnival ride. A giant machine inspects, weighs, photographs (about 100 images for each piece of fruit) and sorts, sending each apple along another conveyor belt to be boxed.
The floral smell of apples fills the enormous facility.
In summer months, production lines like these also wash, scrutinize and sort stone fruit — peaches, apricots and nectarines. But the rest of the year they process apples, hundreds of thousands of apples, up to 4,000 pieces of fruit every minute. The varieties — Fuji, Red Delicious, Honey Crisp and more — are stored in climate-controlled rooms, then run through the plant, where they’re boxed up for delivery.
Some apples go to regional grocery chains. Others are sent across the world to Israel and Saudi Arabia. The perfect apples wind up as afternoon snacks, eaten whole. Other apples are destined for pie, juices or applesauce.
It’s Smith’s job to be the apple counter. He’s an accountant, and now the company’s chief financial officer, whose rise to the C-suite was spurred by his completion of the University of Washington’s Business Certificate Program.
“The program was a very hands-on approach to topics,” Smith said. “I use this stuff every day. It kind of bolsters your ability. You’re learning while you’re on the job and can apply it right away.”
The program, managed by the Foster School’s Consulting and Business Development Center, has been evolving in Eastern Washington since its inception more than two decades ago. Today, the course is targeting mid-level managers in the fruit industry and more than 150 companies throughout the Yakima Valley. There are now multiple in-person options in Yakima and, since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, students in Central and Eastern Washington can access the class online.