American Italian Pasta Company has begun renovations to produce pasta at an existing food plant previously occupied by Borden Foods in Tolleson, Arizona - according to a report by Industrialinfo.com.
Youngelove Construction was the general contractor on this $45 million (€48.8mn) project and the company is projecting that the facility will be up and producing pasta by the end of the year.
The state-of-the-art pasta production equipment has been on-order from Italy since November of 2001 and two lines will be installed to produce some 100 million pounds of pasta products at the new plant annually.
The plant was designed with expansion in mind and capacity can easily be increased to between 200 and 300 million pounds when the West Coast markets merit volume increases. The plant's initial workforce will be around 40 to 50 people.
Founded in 1988 and based in Kansas City, Missouri, American Italian Pasta Company is the largest and fastest-growing producer and marketer of dry pasta in North America. The company currently has four plants located in Missouri, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Italy. Currently it has approximately 535 employees located in the United States and Italy, and the Tolleson plant will be the company's fifth plant in operation.