Huhtamaki to purchase Goodyear, Ariz., facility

Huhtamaki North America, De Soto, Kan., said it plans to open a manufacturing and distribution center in Goodyear, Ariz., to serve West Coast foodservice packaging and retail tableware markets, including private brand customers. When completed, the 750,000-square-foot facility will produce paper drink cups, insulated hot cups, food containers, pressed paperboard plates and thermoformed plastic cups and lids.

The company expects capital investment at the site to exceed $100 million over the next two years and result in the creation of approximately 300 jobs. The investment will cover building modifications, infrastructure and equipment installation. Goodyear is located 19 miles west of downtown Phoenix.

“This is a further investment in our strategy to serve the foodservice packaging and retail tableware markets with core products,” said Clay Dunn, executive vice president, Huhtamaki North America. “The new facility will expand our footprint and will build off the success of our earlier expansions. The facility will not only grow our capacity, but improve our distribution capability in the region.”

Huhtamaki said it will start using the facility as a distribution center in early 2017. Construction of infrastructure is expected to begin in quarter two of 2017. Commercial production is scheduled to begin in late 2017 and ramp up in 2018 or 2019. Huhtamaki said it purchased the facility from Cohen Asset Management Inc.