USA: Coors Plans $24 million investment in Virginia

Coors Brewing Co. will add a new high-speed production line at the company’s Shenandoah Brewery, officials said on January 5. The $24 million expansion will bring eight jobs to the facility.

It comes on the heels of the company’s current $200 million expansion that will add a brewery, which is projected to come online later this year.

While the brewery requires a new 100,000-square-foot building, the new production line will be in an existing building, said Robert Machado, vice president and general manager of Coors Shenandoah.

"The new line will package 2,150 cans a minute," Machado said. "It’s flying — very high speed." Production is expected to begin in September, he added. "We’ll ramp up and should be in full production by October or November," Machado said.

The line will primarily can Coors Light and will produce 1.8 million barrels a year, spokeswoman Aimee Valdez said. About 60 percent of that is destined for the company’s export market, Machado explained.

"This will be our first export can line," Machado said. "And it puts us a step closer to our vision of being the safest and most productive brewery in the world."

Gov. Mark Warner called the company’s second expansion in less than two years a great success for Rockingham County. "This expansion will make the Coors Shenandoah plant an even more vital part of Coors’ future," Warner said.

The governor approved a $250,000 grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program to assist in the project.

The impact of the latest expansion on the county’s tax revenue wasn’t immediately clear. It will depend on how much new equipment and machinery is required, said county administrator Joseph Paxton. "This is not of the same magnitude as construction of the brewery," Paxton said. "But it shows [Coors’] emphasis on this facility. It’s important to the Valley." Coors is a very good corporate citizen, he added.

The Coors plant opened in 1987 as a finishing, packaging and distribution center. It produces about 7.5 million barrels of beer each year.

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