Global spirits company Beam has announced plans to increase bottling activity in Kentucky substantially and improve its US bottling operations efficiency.
In May 2012, Beam, which acquired Pinnacle Vodka and Calico Jack Rum bottling from Maine, expects to move it to its recently expanded center of excellence in Frankfort, Kentucky, in the first quarter of 2014.
Beam global operations and supply chain senior vice president Ian Gourlay said consolidating the company's bottling operations in the US into its Kentucky facility will deliver substantial operational synergies.
"Our highly efficient and newly expanded Frankfort facility currently bottles approximately 10 million cases a year and has the capability to absorb the additional - and growing - volume of the three-million-case Pinnacle brand, further enhancing our capacity utilization," Gourlay said.
The transition, which will be done in stages, is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
Beam's Kentucky operations include distilleries with bottling capability in Clermont, Frankfort and Loretto, as well as a distillery in Boston, Kentucky.
