Billings Coca-Cola Plant Opens with Ribbon Cutting

Two years, three months after breaking ground, Coca-Cola Bottling Company High Country welcomed the new manufacturing plant in Billings with a celebratory ribbon-cutting guest starring Govenor Greg Gianforte and Mayor Bill Cole.

The facility at 1830 Harnish Boulevard in west Billings costs up to $100 million and is fully staffed with 110.  The high-tech plant will supply Coke and Dr. Pepper products for all of Montana and the surrounding region.

The lead-up to the launch ceremony started with an auditory "Thank You" by CEO M. Trevor Messinger to the Billings City Council, architectural and engineering firms, Yellowstone County for the tax abatement, and the local and corporate teams at Coca-Cola.  He also thanked the surrounding neighbors for their cooperation and patience during construction.

Governor Gianforte hailed this new economic driver in Billings and he announced with delight that Montana is officially debt-free.

Mayor Cole acknowledged the administrative hoops to jump through to get this project completed and he thanked all the hard work done by the participating parties.

Spokesmen for Senator Jon Tester and the Big Sky EDA added their praises.

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The honor of actually using the scissors on the big red ribbon belonged to Karen Satrang Holloway, a 25-year staple of High Country currently serving as Chief Operating Officer. In a statement she added "The project will help us improve our carbon footprint, enhance our operational efficiencies and offer a high-quality work environment for our teams."

The Big Pallets of Coke Cans

On a tour of the new facility, I viewed the machinery that packages cans of Coke into the 12-packs you purchase in the store.  One detail that caught my eye were the towering pallets of cans.  Not allowed to take photos nor video inside the place, but I did my best to estimate how many cans per pallet by counting how many cans long, wide, and how many rows high.  Each pallet has approximately 10,000 cans.

I don't think we'll be going without for a while.