Starbucks recently announced plans to expand their Augusta, GA facility by investing $120 million in a move that will nearly double the five-year-old facility’s footprint and create at least 100 new jobs. The groundbreaking for the 140,000-square-foot expansion is set for the end of July. Up to six new roasting machines will be installed to supply whole bean and ground coffee products to the East Coast.
Finalized just before announcing the expansion, the facility will work with Georgia’s Quick Start program, which provides resources for technical colleges and manufacturers to work together in identifying and training workers.
The Augusta plant is one of nine manufacturing and distribution facilities owned by the world’s largest coffee retailer. This expansion is part of a plan to create more than 68,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2021. In addition to its namesake brand and VIA Ready Brew products, Starbucks’ portfolio also includes the Tazo Tea and Seattle’s Best Coffee brands.
Although not as large in terms of dollar amount, the announced expansion plans of Steel Dynamics in Columbia City, Indiana represent growth in an industry that’s usually more synonymous with decline in the U.S. The company’s $75 million investment will create 33 high-wage jobs for the production of 240,000 tons of hot roll, cold roll, coated sheet, structural beam, rail, engineered special-bar, and cold-finished steel.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) offered Steel Dynamics performance-based incentives of up to $190,000 in training grants and up to $300,000 in tax credits. These incentives won’t kick in until the number of promised positions are filled. Steel Dynamics has operations in 15 cities throughout Indiana and employs approximately 3,400 workers.
Siemens recently broke ground on a $300 million expansion to its medical diagnostic testing plant in Walpole, Massachusetts. The company is promising to bring up to 700 new jobs to the facility over the next 10 years. Both the state and city gave Siemens tax breaks to encourage construction of the manufacturing and research facility.
The current plant, which employs more than 600 people, has been in Walpole since 1979. The Walpole investment is part of a $500 million initiative by the state to boost Massachusetts’s life sciences sector.
Insights
The breadth of geography and industry sectors represented by these plant expansions seem to illustrate the positive trends recently broadcasted about the U.S. industrial sector. In the past there were flurries of activity exclusive to economically-friendly geographies like the southeast or a specific industry, such as aerospace.
More so than any purchasing index or new orders log, the geographic and market diversity of these half-billion dollar investments could be a truer sign of positive growth for U.S. manufacturing.