Diageo, a spirits, wine and beer company, announces an $18 million investment in its
Plainfield, Illinois brand technical and bottling facility, adding processing and storage capacity and upgrading packaging lines to meet market demand for vodka brand, Smirnoff. This significant investment in a key manufacturing facility follows on the heels of Diageo's purchase of 36 acres of land adjacent to the facility in July 2007 for $13.9 million.
The Plainfield expansion follows a number of global investments Diageo has made in recent months to capitalize on consumer growth for premium spirits products, including $1 billion to construct a new Guinness brewery in Ireland, building its first new malt whisky distillery in Scotland and announcing an agreement in principle to acquire the Schenley Distillery and Bottling operation in Canada.
"In this time of economic uncertainty, we are pleased to make another significant investment in one of our key manufacturing facilities and simultaneously bolster Plainfield's local economy," says John Council, president, Diageo, Americas Supply. "With more than 300 Diageo employees working in the state of Illinois, we are committed to giving back to the communities in which we live and work and this investment is a further testament to that."
Along with Smirnoff vodka brands, Plainfield produces a variety of products including flavored beers, such as Smirnoff Ice and Smirnoff Ice Triple Black, Gordon's gin and Booths Gin and bottles for a number of additional brands.
Diageo's Plainfield brand technical and bottling facility, located just outside Chicago, produces more than 12 million cases of spirits a year. Between employees located in the company's Chicago sales office and the Plainfield facility, Diageo generated approximately $1.1 million in 2007 for the Illinois state budget in income tax and state unemployment.
