Pernod Ricard USA announced a new investment. Specifically, the company decided to invest in its first ready-to-drink (RTD) canning line, and it will be located at the company’s Fort Smith plant in Arkansas. The investment of approximately $22 million will provide the facility with canning capabilities, help accelerate the company’s growth, add more U.S. jobs and create a spillover of economic benefits to the local community. “This investment is an incredible step in strengthening our manufacturing footprint in Fort Smith. The high-speed canning line will be instrumental in increasing our production capabilities and bringing our premium, bar-quality RTDs to market quickly.”said Pierre Joncourt, senior vice president of Pernod Ricard North America.
RTDs, which now include alcoholic beverages, prepared cocktails and long drinks, teas and hard coffees, wine spritzers and coolers, are ultra-convenient, easy to find, easy to transport, easy to store and easy to recycle. They are also projected to be the fastest growing alcohol category globally over the next five years, expected to grow by an additional $11.6 billion over that time.
“Volume has only continued to increase for our Fort Smith facility and the spirits industry in general. This latest canning line expansion will not only allow us to produce several spirits across our brand portfolio, but more importantly, it will create numerous jobs to meet demand.”concluded Jennifer Anglin, Senior Director of Operations at the Fort Smith plant.
