At roughly 224,000-square-feet, Royal Canin's new pet food manufacturing plant will almost be twice as large as its current plant once it is completed.
Ty Rushing, Sioux City Journal
A workforce of more than 200 local employees will staff Royal Canin's new North Sioux City plant when it opens in spring 2019.Â
NORTH SIOUX CITY — Work is well underway at Royal Canin’s $120 million pet food manufacturing plant in North Sioux City.
Walls are up and work has seemed to transition to the interior of the roughly 224,000 square foot facility.
When completed, the new plant will replace the aging 130,000-square-foot plant. About $60 million will be spent on construction, and another $60 million will go toward state-of-the-art equipment at the new facility.
Royal Canin, a division of Mars Inc., specializes in brands formulated for the dietary needs of specific breeds of dogs and cats.
The North Sioux City expansion is part of the company's aggressive attempts at investing in the United States. In the last five years, the company has spent more than $1 billion on improving or building new facilities across the country.
In addition to improving infrastructure in the southeast South Dakota community of about 2,700, Royal Canin also ramped up hiring, adding an additional 50 jobs to supplement the new plant. The move that pushed Royal Canin’s local workforce past 200.
Newer and veteran associates will continue to work at Royal Canin’s existing plant and move into the under-construction plant when it opens in spring 2019.
When news of the new plant was announced in June 2016, Royal Canin officials had no plans adding new jobs. However, Daniel Klapuch, site director for Royal Canin in North Sioux City, said that has obviously changed.
"We are just seeing continued significant growth," he said. "It's just requiring us to meet the demand of our customers. Again, we are just seeing significant growth and it's a good position to be in."
Royal Canin, founded by a veterinary surgeon in a French village in 1967, manufacturers products, geared toward the age and size of animals, and distributes them primarily through veterinarians' offices, breeders and specialty retailers such as PetSmart and Petco.
On Thursday, pet food maker @RoyalCanin announced a $185 million expansion of its North Sioux City plant that it says will create 149 new full…
At roughly 224,000-square-feet, Royal Canin's new pet food manufacturing plant will almost be twice as large as its current plant once it is completed.
