COCA-COLA SOUTHWEST BEVERAGES TO BREAK GROUND FOR NEW HOUSTON PLANT
Houston, Texas, September 25, 2018 — Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (CCSWB), a company of Arca Continental, held today the ground-breaking ceremony for its new production and distribution facility in Pinto Business Park. CCSWB and Arca Continental leaders were joined by federal, state and local authorities to celebrate the beginning of the first new Coca-Cola plant built in U.S. in a decade.
“Coca-Cola has been a part of the greater Houston community for more than 100 years,” said Mark Schortman, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages. “Since opening our first facility in 1902, consumer dynamics have changed and the population in the Houston metro area has increased tremendously. We need to expand and grow our production facility to invest in the future and provide our wide variety of beverages.”
“Since April 2017, when we integrated CCSWB into Arca Continental, we have focused our efforts on strengthening a sound growth platform for our customers, consumers, associates and communities,” said Francisco Garza Egloff, Chief Executive Officer of Arca Continental.
“The projected investment for this facility reflects our long-term commitment with the values of our organization, such as customer-centric market service, operational excellence, social responsibility and sustainability,” added Garza Egloff.
In May 2018, after a little over a year of becoming the first Latin American bottler to operate in the U.S. Coca-Cola system, Arca Continental announced that it will invest USD $250 million in a new facility, which is one of the largest current capital investments in Texas by a Mexican company.
Upon completion of the project in Q1 2020, the 1 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will include manufacturing with 5 new production lines, distribution, warehouse and sales which will enable CCSWB to even better serve the Southeast Texas market.
Since the project was announced in May, CCSWB has:
- Worked closely with ownership and management team for Pinto Business Park.
- Hired Haskell, a global leader in architecture, engineering, and construction, with offices in Houston, throughout the US, Mexico and Asia.
- Hosted a Diversity Supplier Fair to meet numerous local women- and minority-owned business leaders who may be future partners with CCSWB.
- Begun preparing the site for construction, installing soil erosion fences, siting utility power poles, and creating entrance and exit access roads for heavy equipment.
CCSWB anticipates actual construction of the buildings to begin Q1 2019, equipment installation in Q2 2019, and occupancy by the end of 2019 to begin start up at the beginning of 2020.
About Arca Continental
Arca Continental is a company dedicated to the production, distribution, and sale of non-alcoholic beverages which are brand names of The Coca-Cola Company as well as salty snacks under the brands of Bokados in Mexico, Inalecsa in Ecuador, and Wise in the United States. With an outstanding track record of more than 92 years, Arca Continental is the second largest Coca-Cola bottling company in Latin America and one of the most important in the world. Within its Coca-Cola franchise, the company serves a population of more than 119 million in the northern and western parts of Mexico as well as Ecuador, Peru, the northern region of Argentina and the Southwestern U.S. Arca Continental is listed on the Mexican Stock Market under the ticker symbol “AC”. For further information about Arca Continental, please visit www.arcacontal.com
About Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages
Dallas-based Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (CCSWB), a company of Arca Continental, is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the United States. CCSWB produces, markets and distributes Coca-Cola brands throughout Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The company employs more than 8,900 associates who operate 10 production plants and 40 distribution facilities, serving more than 31 million consumers. For more information about Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, please visit www.cocacolaswb.com.
