Gatorade
“Wytheville
offers us great people and location, a feeling of community, an
excellent manufacturing base and a critical transportation hub.”
Arnie Wodtke
Director,
Hot Fill Supply Chain
Gatorade
Calling
Wythe County an important hub for its growing business needs, Gatorade
officially opened its Blue Ridge Gatorade Plant in Wytheville's
Progress Park in November 2006.
Arnie
Wodtke, Director of the Hot Fill Supply Chain for Gatorade, said
the location of the company's eighth U.S. plant near the intersection
of I-81 and I-77 “provides an important geographic hub to our growing
distribution needs and allows us to optimally distribute Gatorade
and Propel to our customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley
regions.”
The
Wytheville plant, he said, will take the burden off the company's
nearest facilities in northeastern Pennsylvania and in Atlanta.
Four
production lines will manufacture Gatorade Thirst Quencher and Propel
Fitness Water. The new facility will employ 290.
 Located
on 134 acres at 316 Gator Lane in Progress Park, the plant is just
under a million square feet and has the ability to expand to 1.8
million square feet and eight production lines. It represents a
$148 million investment by PepsiCo, Gatorade's parent company.
The
Wytheville Gatorade plant is designed to achieve LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification “and provide
significant impact to our natural environment, economy and health
and productivity of our employees,” according to Wodtke. The Wytheville
plant will be one of the largest certified food and beverage manufacturing
facilities in the world.
Choosing
a location for such a large facility is no easy task, said Wodtke.
“Many
factors are weighed in the analysis of potential sites, including
transportation and distribution costs. The primary deciding factor
in locating the facility in Wytheville was the geographic location
and the subsequent savings of getting product to the market area
this facility will serve.”
In
addition to the great location, outstanding people, the feeling
of community and the tremendous commitment and support from local
and state officials, Wodtke also praised the Virginia Employment
Commission and Wytheville Community College for their help in developing
the workforce for the new plant. The VEC helped process more than
5,000 applications for employment at the new plant, and the community
college provided testing and interviewing services and developed
an operator curriculum for all line technicians.
 And
with Amcor PET Packaging, leading supplier of hot-fillable plastic
bottles to the beverage industry, building a bottle manufacturing
facility next door in Progress Park , Wodtke said it is a wonderful
opportunity for both the company and Wythe County .
“Having
this opportunity to have a bottle manufacturer right next door leads
to cost savings and a seamless manufacturing process for us,” said
Wodtke. “It's definitely a win-win situation for us and the community.”
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