Diageo North America has opened a 225,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Plainfield, Illinois, expanding the company’s production capacity by more than 25 million cases.
Diageo Lincolnway, a $110 million project, includes the installation of two new high-speed canning lines, which will support production of both malt- and spirit-based ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs).
Diageo’s portfolio includes malt-based RTDs from Lone River Ranch Water and Smirnoff, and spirits-based RTDs from Crown Royal and Ketel One Botanical Vodka.
“With the increase in at-home occasions, the industry growth we’ve seen in the ready-to-drink cocktails, we recognized we needed to act quickly in terms of increasing our capacity and our North American manufacturing,” Matthew Brownless, Diageo North America manufacturing director, said in a promotional video for the location. “This investment allowed us to meet both short-term business needs as well as sets the supply network up quite nicely for future growth.”
The location was originally set to begin operations this summer, with an 18-month project completion plan, but the company was able to trim the process down to nine months, according to Abraham Woodcox, Diageo conversion strategy director.
“We’re incredibly proud of the speed and innovative approach from our team and partners in their efforts to build this site in record time,” Michael Nelson Jr., Diageo North America senior VP of manufacturing and distillation, said in a press release.
The beverage company already has been in Plainfield for more than 50 years with a bottling facility and warehouse. The new production location will add 50 new full-time jobs to the more than 600 existing jobs created by Diageo in the village, according to the release.
In 2021, Diageo announced it would be investing $80 million in the project, following its acquisition of Lone River-maker Far West Spirits in March and the spirit-based RTD-maker Loyal 9 Cocktails in April. The location began commercial production in the fall of 2021.
The company, which also produces Guinness, reported global net sales of €8 billion (nearly $9 billion USD) in the first half of its 2022 fiscal year (through December 31 2021), increasing sales +15.8% year-over-year, according to the company in its 2022 interim report. In 2021, Diageo’s North American volume increased +10% and net sales increased +13%, according to the company’s annual report. Global RTD sales for the company – which do not include sales of flavored malt beverages such as hard seltzer – increased from €621 million (more than $696 million) in 2020 , to €741 (more than $831 million) in 2021.