Great Lakes Region Tops Food and Beverage Spending with Over $1 Billion in Projects for 2005

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). According to data extracted from Industrialinfo.com’s project spending database, the Great Lakes Region of the United States will support over $1 billion in capital and maintenance spending for Food & Beverage Industry construction projects in 2005. About half of the projects are currently under construction; however, the remaining four months of the year holds a robust amount of dollars scheduled to be invested at food and beverage plants within the region.

The Great Lakes Region, which is made up of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, is home to one of the nation’s largest concentration of food and beverage plants. It is also a leading region for Food & Beverage Industry spending activity, due to the fact that so many of the raw materials for producing food related products are found in the region. A total of 1,238 plants are found within the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of project spending in the Great Lakes for the Food & Beverage Industry in 2005.

Understandably, Wisconsin’s presence in the dairy industry has the plant count in the state at 310 facilities leading the way in the region by sheer numbers. One of the largest projects the state has landed in recent years is a $100 million plant, planned by supplements manufacturer Natural Nutrients USA, that is scheduled to kick-off this month.

Illinois ranked second in plant count with a total of 288 operational Food & Beverage Industry plants. Some of the larger projects are planned by Sanfilppo & Son in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The snack maker is planning a $50 million project to relocate operations to a new site in Elgin, Illinois. Wal-Mart will construct a new a new $70 million distribution center in Sterling, Illinois and Del Monte is also adding distribution capacity in the state through the addition of a new facility in Rochelle. SYSCO also recently announced plans to locate a new distribution center in Lincoln.

Third-ranked Ohio, always strong in food and agribusiness, is home to over 207 plants. Major projects here include a $50 million expansion by soup maker Campbell in Napoleon and a $20 million expansion planned by Miceli Dairy Products in Cleveland. Some other note worthy projects include the Sam Adams brewery expansion in Cincinnati and a new egg processing facility by Cal-Maine Foods in Union City.

Indiana also has quite a diversified group of food plants. Ranking fourth, the state has 181 major plants and agricultural related facilities within its borders. Recent major projects announced here include a new $100 million agro park planned by Louis Dreyfus in Claypool and a $100 million energy related expansion by Tate & Lyle that will soon be underway in Lafayette. Wal-Mart is also looking at the heartland for another new distribution center.

Ranking fifth in the region is Michigan with 129 plants. The state has always had a strong farming community and a strong and steady demand for its crops. One of the state’s leading meat packers, Boar’s Head, will continue its expansion in the state through an expansion of a plant in Holland, Michigan, expecting to cost in excess of $18 million. Egg processor, Sunny Fresh Foods recently announced major expansion plans in Lake Odessa.

Last but not least, Kentucky comes in at number six in the rankings. There are 114 plants located in this region with wide spread reaches in both food and beverage. Notables here include a $79 million distribution center project planned by Gordon Foodservice Shepperdsville. T Marzetti Company also announced they are proceeding with plans for a new salad dressing plant in Horse Cave that had been previously on-hold for a couple of years.

Projections indicate another $499 million in capital and maintenance dollars will be invested within the region’s food and beverage processing plants by the end of 2005. An additional $163 million is already forecasted for the coming 2006 spending season and the projections will continue to nearly the same levels as last year as manufacturers begin putting together budgets for plant spending.

In the Food & Beverage Industry, approximately 510 projects are released each year representing both capital and maintenance project activity. Capital project coverage represents 79 percent of the total, while maintenance coverage consists of 21 percent.

In all, the Food & Beverage industry includes coverage in over 7,300 various operational plants across North America that produce, store and distribute perishable and non-perishable food items, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Coverage also includes agricultural products, such as grain milling and refining. Facilities with 50 or more employees or an annual sales volume of $25 million or more is represented in the Food and Beverage database. Project coverage includes major capital and maintenance spending activity valued at $1 million and greater and is researched and delivered on a daily basis.

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