As the beverage industry faces a painful crunch on aluminum can supply, another manufacturer announced last week that it is working to expand production.
Crown Holdings said Friday that it has selected Mesquite, Nevada as the location of a new aluminum can manufacturing facility. According to a press release, the two-line, 355,000 square foot plant is expected to begin operations in Q2 2023 and will create 126 new jobs. The facility will produce both standard and specialty beverage cans to service customers in the Western U.S.
“This investment, underpinned by long-term customer contracts, continues to demonstrate Crown’s commitment to meet the increased demand for aluminum beverage cans,” said Timothy J. Donahue, Crown Holdings president and CEO, in the release. “Consumers continue to seek beverage options predominantly in cans and are increasingly aware of the sustainability benefits of the aluminum can.”
The new facility is expected to meet environmental sustainability goals in line with the company’s TwentyBy30 program, which aims to drastically reduce both carbon emissions and the amount of water used by its production facilities by 2030. Crown has operations in over 40 countries and 20 production plants in North America.
In January, Crown stated that it planned to open a 355,000 square foot facility in Henry County, Virginia, which would also create 126 new jobs, that is scheduled to go online next year at a reported cost of $145 million.
In the release, Crown said the new Nevada facility was “previously announced” but did not specify where or when it had announced the facility. Crown did not immediately return a request for comment.
Crown’s announcement comes as Ball Corp., the leading U.S. manufacturer of metal packaging for beverages, also revealed its own plans to expand in Nevada with a $290 million aluminum beverage packaging plant in North Las Vegas. That facility, which is expected to create around 180 jobs, is scheduled to be operational in late 2022. According to a release, Ball stated that it chose Nevada for its “proximity to customer can-filling investments, increasing regional demand, the infrastructure in place, the regional labor base and the cooperation of state and local officials.”
Suppliers have stepped up production as the global aluminum can shortage has worsened in 2021, with the U.S. estimated to be about 10-14 billion cans short as of June. Salt Lake City-based co-packer Vobev announced this month it expects to begin operations of its slim can production and filling facility by the end of this year.
While the can shortage has put particular pressure on smaller companies fighting to shore up their supply chain, the issue has also led to significant problems for larger brands overseas, including out-of-stocks for Coca-Cola products in the U.K. as the conglomerate’s British and continental bottling operations have faced supply issues exacerbated by both COVID and Brexit, as well as a dire shortage of CO2.