Planters Upgrading Arkansas Plant, Contractor Identified

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Kraft Foods North America's (NYSE: KFT) (Northfield, Illinois) division, Planters Company Incorporated (Fort Smith, Arkansas) is planning a major upgrade to their snack nuts processing plant in Fort Smith.

Site clearing and pre-construction activity is nearing completion under the direction of general contractor United Insulated Structures Corporation (Berkeley, Illinois) for a new 72,000 square foot warehouse building that will increase finished product storage on-site.

Existing equipment will be upgraded and additional processing and packaging will be added to the plant as well to increase the plants total output. The company's in-house staff will handle the bulk of the equipment installations.

The company will also add a small utility building on the plants north side to accommodate additional wastewater treatment system equipment.

Planter hopes to have the $5 million upgrade and expansion at 4020 Planters Road completed by October of this year. The expansion will also increase employment at the plant that already employs over 300 by six jobs.

Kraft Foods, the largest branded food and beverage company headquartered in the U.S., markets many of the world's leading brands, including Planters Peanuts, Kraft cheese, Maxwell House and Jacobs coffees, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Post cereals, and Milk chocolates, in more than 140 countries.