Westrock Coffee opens $315 million Conway manufacturing facility ahead of schedule
by June 13, 2024 5:48 pm 48 views
Westrock Coffee opened its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Conway on Thursday (June 13) ahead of schedule. The $315 million, 570,000-square-foot facility will allow Westrock to warehouse, roast and grind, process, taste-test, innovate and distribute its products worldwide.
The plant, which has been renovated from its former use as a Kimberly-Clark factory, is built on the latest production capabilities, robotics, and end-to-end automation. Company officials said the vertically integrated facility will serve full-service to existing clients and will allow for Westrock to quickly scale to meet growing industry demands.
The company said the plant is currently at 75% capacity and expects to fill remaining capactity in the coming months. Employee count at capacity will be around 900 workers.
“The opening of the Conway facility marks a critical milestone for Westrock Coffee,” said Scott Ford, CEO and co-founder of Westrock Coffee. “In line with our commitment as a world leader in beverage innovation, today we launch the largest integrated beverage facility in the Americas. This uniquely positions us as a leading force in beverage production across any channel and beverage format. Moreover, this facility extends our commitment to sustainability and responsible sourcing for our customers, farmer partners, and the communities we serve.”
Westrock leaders provided a media tour of the plant on Thursday to showcase the cutting edge technology and machinery needed to produce coffee, tea and extracts. Beyond Westrock’s coffee brand, the company is a private label provider for a number of coffee, tea, and beverage producers. Several are name-brand, but the information is proprietary.
Westrock offers a comprehensive range of services from coffee bean sourcing to final product distribution. A new 530,000 sq. ft. warehousing and distribution center is located two miles away allowing Westrock more efficiency in its distribution process.
Publicly-traded Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ: WEST) closed trading Thursday at $9.73 per share. The company’s stock has traded between $6.88 and $11.91 per share over the last year.