business backgrounder | industry
its busy season. Though the cooperative is the most recent iteration of the
company, the Tumwater facility — one of Pepsi Northwest Beverage’s three
plants — has been making soda since 1976 when it was part of the Columbia
Beverage Company.
The soda manufacturer has garnered a loyal workforce, because of both
its culture and benefits and wage package — employees make an average of
$21 per hour. Much of the staff has worked with Pepsi for decades, moving
through the ranks.
Hank Mays, the Tumwater plant manager, started with Pepsi 30 years ago
as a bulk delivery driver. His most recent post is his 18th position with the
company.
“I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon,” he says. “I’m having too much fun.”
a web of influence
While the economic significance of such a company is not lost on its employees, more subtle — but equally as important — is the effect the manufacturer
can have other local and regional businesses.
“Not only are they providing jobs, but they’re also a huge economic driver
to the state,” says Amy Johnson, a strategic consultant with AWB and author
of the association’s 2012 Manufacturing Report.
Pepsi Northwest Beverage reveals why: The company uses the products
and services of more than 50 other local vendors. Some are Washingtonbased businesses and others are local outposts of national or international
— Mike Sidor, president, Pacific Integrated Handling
companies.
For example: Each bottle that Pepsi Northwest Beverage makes begins
from a plastic start made by Amcor, which has a location across the street.
at a glance
Crown Cork and Seal, with a facility in Olympia, provides aluminum cans for the
beverage maker. Haney Trucking, headquartered in Yakima, delivers the company’s
products to retail outlets around the Northwest.
Pepsi Northwest Beverage is a Tumwater UPS has provided domestic and international transportation services to Pepsi Northbased manufacturer that makes soda,
west Beverage, and the company that came before it, for more than 30 years, said Yvonne
Gatorade and other drinks.
Bazik, marketing manager for UPS’s northwest district. The logistics company picks up
and delivers samples from Pepsi’s quality assurance lab to its customers.
The company is a prime example of
And Tacoma-based Pacific Integrated Handling, a company that provides custom
how vital manufacturing is to our state
storage solutions, engineered an automated, vertical storage system that Pepsi Northeconomy, generating jobs at its own plant
west Beverage uses to organize parts used in its machines.
and through the dozens of other compa “In manufacturing, the floor space is very valuable,” said Mike Sidor, Pacific Integratnies it partners with.
ed Handling’s president. “We allow them to grow without expanding their footprint.”
“In manufacturing, the floor space is
very valuable. We allow them to grow
without expanding their footprint.”
growing jobs, changing skills
Manufacturers helped pull this country out of the recession. That’s been especially
evident in this state, where the industry has generated more than a third of all the
jobs created over the year, according to February data from Washington’s Employment Security Department. Manufacturing now accounts for 12 percent of the state’s
workforce, said Dave Wallace, senior labor economist with the state’s Employment
Security Department.
Manufacturing is helping drive our state’s
economic recovery, accounting for a third
of all the jobs generated in the last year.
The industry still faces challenges, including finding skilled workers.
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