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Wis-Pak
860 West Street
1969
08 02 PEPSI-COLA CANNING PLANT IN WATERTOWN
Three proposed
resolutions in connection with the decision to locate a Pepsi-Cola canning
plant in Watertown will be discussed by the City Council at its committee
meeting Monday night. The session will
start at 7 p.m. The resolutions will be
acted upon at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the council. It was announced in the Times on July
22 that Wis-Pak, a new corporation set up for the new Wisconsin plant, will be
erected in Watertown on a site of approximately 30 acres which the city owns on
the West Road. Two of the resolutions
will terminate leases the city has with individuals for the land on which the
building is to be constructed and the third authorizes the sale of the property
to Wis-Pak, the company which will construct the building.
09 22 GROUNDBREAKING
CEREMONY / site dedication
Directors of the Watertown Area Chamber of Commerce
and the Watertown Association of Commerce Promotive Corporation were present
for the site dedication of the Pepsi Cola canning facility
Lieutenant Governor Jack Olson, Donald Knick, chamber
of commerce, Andrew McFarland, chamber of commerce, Karl Fischer, promotive
corporation, Edgar Kellerman, secretary of the promotive corp, Donald Malcolm,
president, chamber of commerce, Clifford Warren, promotive corporation, Robert
Franz, chamber of commerce, L. J. Lange, promotive corporation, William
O'Herrin, chamber of commerce, John D. Clifford, promotive corporation, Jerald
Theder, chamber of commerce, Peardon Schlei, promotive corporation, Clete
Schey, chamber of commerce, Arthur Hilgendorf, president, promotive
corporation, Clarence Hartmann, exec sec, chamber of commerce, Arthur Turke,
promotive corporation, Ken Beyer, the chamber of commerce, Bernard Dunlap,
Wis-Pak director, James Somerall, president of Pepsi Cola, Donald Below,
president of Wis-Pak.
09 22 ALDERMEN
AT SITE DEDICATION OF PEPSI COLA CANNING FACILITY
Watertown aldermen enjoyed a cool can of Pepsi-Cola
while at the Wis-Pak canning facility dedication.
Lieutenant Governor Jack Olson; Mayor Kenneth Wilkes;
aldermen Erich Nuernberg, Walter Nuernberg; George Day; Delmar Schwartz;
Mathias Hertel; Harris Fredrich; Phillip Gerloff; Kurt Rex; and Roland Ruesch; Bernard Dunlap, Wis-Pak director; James
Somerall, president of Pepsi-Cola; and Donald Below, Wis-Pak, president.
09 23 GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
A large crowd was on hand Monday afternoon for the
groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction of the Pepsi-Cola
canning plant being erected by Wis-Pak, Inc., a company formed by 16 franchised
Pepsi bottlers in Wisconsin and Michigan. Wis-Pak, Inc. purchased 34 1/2 acres
of land on the West Road from the city. It will construct a canning plant with
64,000 square feet of floor space. The
plant will have an output of 1,000 cans per minute, and in five years will have
a capacity of 9,000,000 cases per year. Initial plant investment is estimated
at $1,550,000. The annual payroll will
be $250,000. Approximately 20 persons will be employed. The plant will be highly automated and will
be one of the largest soft drink canning facilities in the United States.
11 12 PEPSI-COLA CANNING PLANT CONSTRUCTION
11 21 PEPSI-COLA
CANNING PLANT CONSTRUCTION MOVING ALONG
1970 CONSTRUCTION OF Wis-Pak (Pepsi plant)
1970
1983
Watertown Daily Times, 01 25
1983
A major expansion and improvement program which will
cost over $1.5 million, is being undertaken at Wis-Pak Inc., 860
West Street, according to Arnold Fobes, vice president and general manager
of the firm. Work is already underway for the projects, which are
broken down into two major areas. They are a new two-liter bottling
facility and improvements to reduce the content of waste from the plant which
is sent to the Watertown Wastewater Treatment plant. Fobes said
the two-liter bottle project is being undertaken to meet the needs of the Pepsi
distributors that own Wis-Pak.
Watertown Daily Times, 11 11 1983
WIS-PAK EXPANSION
Another Watertown industry has undertaken an ambitious expansion program. Wis-Pak, Inc., 860 West Street, has announced it is constructing a 48,000 square foot addition to the north end of its facilities. The addition, which will be 200 by 240 feet in size, will be used primarily for warehouse space, according to Arnold Fobes, vice president and general manager. Work on the $600,000 square foot addition got under way this week. Oliver Construction of Oconomowoc is general contractor for the project. Initial ground preparation work is now under way.
1985
Watertown Daily Times, 09 13 1985
Wis-Pak, the Pepsi Cola canning facility located at 860
West Street, Monday afternoon announced plans for another major expansion of
its facilities. This expansion, a 135,000 square foot addition on
the west side of the north end of the present building, will be used primarily
for storage of both full and empty cans. Arnold Fobes, vice
president and general manager, announced the plans at groundbreaking
ceremonies. Oliver Construction of Oconomowoc is construction
engineer for the project. Work is scheduled to begin immediately, Fobes said. He
said the addition was being constructed as a joint effort with Metal Container
Corporation, a subsidiary of Anheuser Busch, which is a major contractor
with Wis-Pak for production of cans.
1988
Watertown Daily Times, 07 08 1988
Barbara Parish has been promoted to the position of president and chief executive officer of Wis-Pak, Inc., according to an announcement by Ed McKelvey, chairman of the board of the firm. Parish previously held the position of vice president and chief operating officer of the corporation. In her new role, Parish has full responsibility for the business and affairs of the holding company and its subsidiaries. Wis-Pak is owned by 29 shareholders, each a Pepsi Cola bottler. The corporation owns five subsidiaries, including the production operation in Watertown. The other subsidiary corporations are production operations in Mankato, Minn., and Norfolk, Neb., a Central Sales Corporation, and Klarbrunn, a private label water company.
1989
Watertown Daily Times, 09 30 1989
FORT ATKINSON - The Watertown-Fort Atkinson area could soon be known as the soft-drink capital of the world. The largest soft-drink bottler in existence, Pepsi-Cola’s Wis-Pak is located in Watertown. As a logical addition, the world’s most technologically advanced metal container plant is now operating in Fort Atkinson. The plant held an open house for members of the media and the families of employees Tuesday. On June 6, Anheuser-Busch’s 200,000 square foot, $40 million Metal Container Corporation (MCC) plant sent out its first shipment of aluminum cans to its only customer — Wis-Pak.
2007
07 27 MANUFACTURING UPGRADES
Wis-Pak Inc. headquartered in Watertown has announced
major manufacturing upgrades at its facility in the city, along with the
construction of a new distribution center at Hermansville, Mich., by its
subsidiary, WP Beverages LLC.
Production capacity is being expanded at the Watertown
facility, along with additional processing capabilities for packaging its
current product line and its portfolio of liquid refreshment beverages.
The major internal upgrades at Watertown's facility at
860 West St. include the installation of new equipment. The new equipment is
for shrink wrapping of pallets of the products produced at the plant. The upgrades will be operational by the end
of the year.
The Watertown facility, constructed in 1969 and
operational in 1970, began with one can filling line in its 64,000-square-foot
facility. There have been seven expansions at the firm over the years,
including 1977, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1991 and 1996. The current facility has 413,000 square feet
and produces in excess of 30 million cases of liquid refreshments
annually. In 2004, Wis-Pak formed a
majority-owned subsidiary, WP Beverages, LLC, to purchase franchise operations.
Currently those include Pepsi-Cola of Madison, Pepsi-Cola of Rockford and
Pepsi-Cola of Iron Mountain.
The 2004 franchise purchase was a unique transaction approved by the Pepsi-Cola Company, which provides Wis-Pak the opportunity to not only produce but also distribute the products to many loyal customers.
2009
04 10 MANUFACTURING UPGRADES
Ball Corp. will permanently cease manufacturing operations at the polyethylene terephthalate plastic packaging plant in Watertown by June. The Watertown plant on Dayton Street, which operates four production lines with an annual capacity of approximately 250 million recyclable polyethylene terephthalate bottles, is scheduled to close by June 7, subject to customer requirements, according to Scott McCarty, director of corporate relations for Ball Corp. The local facility employs 52 people and produces polyethylene terephthalate bottles that are mainly used to hold carbonated soft drinks and water. Ball Corp. acquired the Watertown plant from Wis-Pak Inc. in 2001.
History of Watertown, Wisconsin