2005 Regional Spending Review for the West Coast’s Food & Beverage Plants

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Info Resources; Houston, Texas). According to data extracted from Industrialinfo.com’s project spending database, the Food & Beverage Industry spent close to one billion dollars during the 2005 calendar year to move forward on 45 major projects. These projects included new construction, plant expansions and maintenance-related needs.

Spending activity has always been strong on the West Coast considering the diversification of food and beverage-related industry in the region. Some of the larger employers and most recognized names in the area include Anheuser-Busch, Berringer Winery, Bird’s Eye Foods, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola and ConAgra, just to name a few.

Glancing at the project and capital spending for 2005, some of the most notable projects that began last year and are still under construction include a number of Fortune 500 companies. For example, StockPot, a division of Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB ) (Camden, New Jersey), began construction on a new $80 million, 220,000 square-foot plant in Everett, Washington during the fourth quarter of 2005. The Dennis Group (Salt Lake City, Utah) is currently onsite constructing the new soup plant that is scheduled to be complete by late 2006.

Tillamook County Creamery started a large $50 million expansion of their cheese processing plant in Boardman, Oregon that is scheduled to be complete by June of 2006.

Williams Bakery is three-quarters complete with a new $30 million, 160,000 square-foot bakery in Eugene, Oregon and wine maker RH Phillips Winery began the first phase of a ten-year, $25 million expansion at its winery in Esparto, California.

And according to Industrialinfo.com’s 2006 Industrial Outlook, spending for the first quarter of 2006 on the West Coast is projected to be in excess of $80 million in the Food & Beverage Industry and over $988 million in project spending has already been uncovered by Industrial Info for the remaining calendar year.

Some of the projects that were scheduled to get underway in 2005 have been re-scheduled to get back on track in 2006 due to a variety of reasons. Permitting, funding and timing of a product release can often push back and cause a delay of a project. According to the spending gap, 2004 projects were pushed back to the traditional 2005 construction season in the region that runs from April through November of each year.

The West Coast region is home to more than 700 major food, beverage and agriprocessing type manufacturing plants with 446 facilities in California, 106 in Oregon and 154 in Washington. Gain instant access to phone numbers, addresses and key plant management contacts at these plants by subscribing to Industrial Info’s West Coast Online Plant Directory.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.