Packaging maker Crown Holdings, based along the Delaware River in
Yardley, Pennsylvania, last week announced it will build a new
beverage can facility that will employ 280 in Peterborough, United
Kingdom, east of Leicester in eastern England. “A growing proportion
of new beverages in the U.K. is being introduced in cans, and this
new facility demonstrates Crown’s commitment to meeting expanding
customer requirements,” the company said. Construction will begin
during the second quarter, with the first line expected to begin
production during the second quarter of 2023. “Additional lines are
planned in a phased manner to reach over 3 billion units of annual
capacity,” the company said.
India-based Torrent last week announced it would open a new plant at
the Ħal Far industrial estate in Malta as part of its European
expansion plans, according to multiple media reports. Malta Today
reports that the company will transform an abandoned factory into a
testing and warehouse facility. Torrent Malta General Manager
Frederick Schembri said the project has advanced quickly thanks to
Malta Enterprise, INDIS Malta and the Medicines Authority. The
industrial estate, located on the southeastern tip of the island
near Malta International Airport and the Malta Freeport, was
formerly home to the first permanent airfield to be built in Malta
in the 1920s and was used heavily during World War II.
Onward Eugene and the Oregon Bioscience Association see growth on
the horizon for a sector whose more than 800 firms in the state
include more than 100 in Lane County.
A
new Pilot Travel Center that opened in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in
February 2022 is part of a new $1 billion wave of investment by the
Tennessee company.
Photo courtesy of Pilot
Knoxville-based Pilot Company’s recent growth has been chronicled in the pages of Site Selection and in an interview with then-Pilot President (now
senior advisor) Ken Parent in Conway Custom Content’s
Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley magazine. The company
continues to grow at a rapid pace, announcing last week a $1 billion
initiative focused on upgrading the experience and equipping its
stores for the future of travel. The three-year project, called New
Horizons, marks the company’s largest investment in store
modernization to date and will fully remodel more than 400 Pilot and
Flying J travel centers, as well as make upgrades at several more
locations across the country.
PHOTO OF THE
DAY
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy
of Library of Congress
Today marks the anniversary of the date in 1794 when inventor Eli
Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, which transformed the
cotton industry in the United States. This photo of a cotton field
ready for harvesting was made by photographer Carol M. Highsmith in
fall 2020 near the town of Mer Rouge in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana.
The USDA’s June 2021 acreage report estimated 2021 U.S. cotton
plantings at 11.72 million acres. Texas is the leading state for
cotton by far. In marketing year 2019 (August 2019-July 2020), “the
United States produced nearly 20 million bales of cotton,
representing about $7 billion in total (lint plus seed) value,” says
the USDA, noting that the country also is the world’s leading cotton
exporter, accounting for approximately 35% of global exports. One
bale of cotton (about 480 pounds) can make more than 200 pairs of
jeans or 1,200 t-shirts.
