Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Newspaper articles about Coca Cola building the largest bottling plant in the United States in Eagan - 3/16/1982Neighborhoods/South.
The Dnrynch
In the biggest Coca Cola bottling plant under one roof in
the United States, forklift operators Robert HipvIe, left,
and Larry McDonough stack cartons of Coke and other
soft drinks nearly two stories high. Workers are expect -
Joe Oden
ed to complete an addition to the plant by June. The
plant is on Eagandale Boulevard just west of Highway
55 in the Eagan industrial park.
Biggest Coca Cola plant covers 10 acres
st y; ( c-' t-�
It goes on and on, if not forever then at
least a far piece.
"It's the biggest Coca Cola bottling plant
under one roof in the United States," says
company spokesman Andrew Spahl.
The Coca Cola Bottling Midwest Inc.
plant, where nearly 600 persons work,
sprawls along the south side of Eagandale
Boulevard just west of Highway 55 in the
Eagan industrial park.
According to Spahl, vice president of pro-
duction, the plant comes by its title of big-
gest as the result of an approximate $8 mil-
lion, 254,000-square-foot addition being con-
structed by workmen onto the present
200,000-square-foot building. Altogether,
the 454,000 square feet cover more than 10
acres.
The addition, to be completed by Rauen-
horst Corp. in June, is due partly to the con -
Eagan
solidation of production, warehouse, sales
and distribution operations as an old Coke
plant near downtown Minneapolis is being
closed.
Inside the Eagan plant the other day,
workers were overseeing the proper ratio
of syrup and carbonated water at the blend-
ing machine.
Zipping by on conveyor chains were
parades of Coca Cola cans and bottles, each
one filling up with the bubbly and then
humming along for a cap or a lid.
On the production line, workers Gerald
Strohbeen, Howard Lemke and Michael
Wilcox were checking to prevent foreign
matter from besmirching can or bottle. Be-
sides human eyes, a machine with an elec-
tric eye also scans the containers.
After filling up with Coke, the chilly 35-
degree cans and bottles are warmed to
room temperature by another machine and
they are coded with the date of their pro-
duction.
Up to 1,000 cans a minute and up to 416
bottles a minute whir off the production
lines. Bottles find their way into six, eight
and 24-pack cartons while cans wind up in
six, 12 and 24-pack cartons.
Besides Coke, the plant workers under li-
cense also make and package other soft
drinks such as Tab, Sprite, Mellow Yellow,
Sunkist Orange, Rondo, Mr. Pibb, Dad's
Root Beer, Fresca, Slender Sugar -free Cola,
Schweppes and White Lightning.
Please see Plant/2S
-- — —i — I_ 'IN
■
—
St. Pat;l Dispatch
Mike Barrett
to complete a major addition to the • plant by •June. Here,
approicirnatety 600 employees make and bottle Coke •
and other soft drinks.
thecounfry
..
ew working the third
ther increases the de -
shifts of workers are
building, employees
a separate 60,000-
here they package
d cigarettes for the
business.
Century Fox Co.
st to the Johnston•
ered in Chattanoo-
ga, Tenn.
As a result of the sale, records show that
Tom Moore, the Coca Cola board chairman,
and his brother, Robert, the president, left
the firm. However, Tom's son, Tom Jr., re;
mains with the firm'in its sales division.
The 'new Coke board chairman • is S.K.
Johnston Jr.
• According to a St. Paul financial consult-
ant, Twentieth Century Fox was a public
firm until purchased last year by,business-
man Marvin'Davis. .
IL area proposal
ught to protect that
ecommendation for
ection on the bond
unanimously.
al election of $8,000
lready hard-pressed
ming for, us," said
ay, who expressed
to against 'it. The
0 would have been
cost if the issue had.
voters,
eck said, the year's
total loss."' He ex-
o perk up soon, he
• Tuesday 16, 1982:
ounciB rejects, . otel
arket study proposal
• , A consultant with a Minneapo-
- lis accounting firm appeared at,
last week's West St. Paul council
. meeting and offered to do a mar-
• ket study for a proposed.West St.
Paul., hotel,. but, the council
• refused to bite.
"I think right now. that for us
to consider an expenditure like
this is • inappropriate," said Ald-
erman Joe Fenton; .
The firm, Laventhol and
Horwath; would charge $9,000 to
$10,000with a $5,400 retainer
fee for a market "study, and
$2,500•to $3,000 with a retainer
of $1,500 for financial projec-
said, at which time the committee's rec-
ommendations could be hauled out for
review and enacted. Others on the com-
mittee, • now disbanded, were Bill Kin-
mel, Ken Burkinshaw, Howard Corty,
Ken Hanson, Ernie Langula, Earl Franz,..
Len Dunham and Ray Hall. •
But he hopes he can soon accornmo-
' date Nest St. Paulites who, also because
of the economy, are looking for cheap
recreation closer to hone.
"What t.all comes down,_to is quality
Of life and'"I think that's very very
important," Kleineck" said recently. "We
do have to consider what makes it nice to
live in West St. Paul — we have to keep
up that standard of living."; '
IQ hi iril nt .Rtnn cli
tions. Stephen Sherf, manager of
management advisory services, .
made the proposal.
Alderman Larry Josephs, who;'p ,
• contacted Sherf, supported the
market study. He said a hotel or, .
motel would generate jobs, and'
that when Interstate 35-E is' 4*•.-
• completed a West .St. Paul -hotel-. -
would be more accessible from'.
• the Minneapolis -St; Paul airport;..;,
and thus attract customers. • - _ »,
Mayor. 'Ken Kube said he had:',
already written "in excess of 20-
25 letters" to motel chains;, and, •i
none were interested in building an,
a hotel in West St. Paul. ..:rl
Lakeville woman , charg.ed
in welfare benefit .cas.e
A 26-year,old Lakeville wom-
an has been charged with -theft
and wrongfully . obtaining wel-
fare aid'totaling $1,754.
A court summons, has been -is-
sued to Rita Lynn- Rosendahl, of
18800 Lyndale Ave. S., following
the Feb. 18 court charge by As-
sistant Dakota County Attorney •
Thomas Bamberry.
According to the complaint,
Rosendahl. is alleged to have
wrongfully. acquired .$1„364 in.
Aid to Families with Dependent .
Children and $390 In food stamps
between September 1981 and
January 1982.
The complaint stated that
Rosendahl allegedly listed no,oc-
cupation and no source.. of
come other than AFDC wtien shed' --
applied for welfare aid for her -`'
self and her .child on Aug: 22,- +, -
1979. : ;6 -! N2. .
• • However, she began working
Aug. 10, 1981, as a salesperson
for an Edina firm at a salary of.
$1,200 a month • plus commis-'', ...
sions. Yet, . she allegedly stated
that she had no outside .income ` "' y4
when filling out welfare forms in;
October-1981; and January 1982,•
according to the complaint. "y•
NOW 2 STORES sSSNEe �p�, HIGHLAND
PAUL
GET ACQUAINTED OFFER... BUY & SAVE!
OWEST PRICE
EVER!!
Infrared.remote control
turns set on and off.
adjusts volume, scans
up or down through
entire channel range,
stopping only at pre-'
selected channels.
By Beth Gautier;
Staff Writer '
District:1'97
An overload of statistics 'and that's' , good enough • for me,,f
the semantics of "quality educa- Tourek said. "The only thing .;
tion" slowed the West St. Paul . worse than a bad decision is: no,
District 197 School Board last'
week in its latest, attempt to deb decision, and I suspect, we're
cide where and how budget cuts reaching that point. Board
should be made. • chairman Peter Nasvik support,
ed .Tourek's motion, ,calling. ;the
It promised, however, to make sixth -grade move "inevitable.": '
further decisions at a special
meeting ,at 7 tonight in the Grass . • Others,) however, demurred;
Junior High auditorium. , and the motion was tabled.
Board member -Steve Tourek'
tried to `persuade the board to
act on • new administration rec-
ommendations distributed to the
board and overflow, crowd, . and
moved ' to approve those on dos-
ing another elementary school
and placing the sixth grade in
Grass.
•
"I find myself somewhat
overwhelmed by the statistics,"
said board member Louise
Midje, who said she wanted more
time for -"contemplation." Board
• member 'Jim Stanton also said
he found the volume of informa=
tion from the staff and ' calls
from' district 'parents over-
whelming.
"If the administration has . •
studied it and say they can do it, Please see Cuts / 2S
Citiz�ns take ....art
in town -g over • . nt:
By Mike Barrett
Staff Writer
Out where the big sky ' is,
where the farm homes, barns
and grain elevators rise from the
snow -swept prairie, where- the
signs, read, no hunting, ' no
trespassing' and no snowmobil-
ing, a citizen can still understand
his local government.
One day last week 'was no ex-
ception as residents of'rural Ver—
million 'Township .in' Dakota.
County elected officers and de-
bated ,at the, annual meeting. `,
For the :occasion, they rented
the Vermillion City Hall 17 miles
southeast of St. Paul.
• At 8. p.m.' Clerk 'Petei
•Wollmering stood up from the
tablein front of the hall to signi-
fy, the end of voting.
" LG44Gr -
Vermillion
Township
back and forth as they watched
• from their chairs:. ,:
At 8:06 p.m. the task was done.
and Roger Stoffel emerged' the
clerk -elect with 38 votes and a
two-year term. Wollmering; a -re-
tired' farmer, hadn't .filed for he t
decided that his 28 years . in of- ,
fice was enough. Over that time,
he missed only one morithly;town
'•, board meeting. •
• Meanwhile, incumbent. Super-
intendent Eugene . Rotty, • ,who
.farms and works *in .Hastings;
was re-elected to a three-year
term with 25 votes. Nobody else
filed.
Nodding to the" winners,
:. ollmering said, "Let's . give
•
This is the largest Coca Cola plant under one roof in•the
United Statesand it is on the south side of Eagandale
Boulevard, just west of Highway;55 in the'Eagan indus
trial park. Workmen of Rauenhorst Corp. are expected
Plant: it,,s,biggest i
$ Continued from Page 1 S • -
• Then forklift operators -snap up the car-
tons and whiz off into the warehouse to pile
them nearly two stories high.
Within two weeks, truckers load the,cans
and bottles and drive them around the Up-
per Midwest to the waiting hands and
parched throats of thirsty drinkers.
According to. staff. engineer Chet Wil-
liams, . two shifts of production 'workers
keep the plant humming seven days a week
with a maintenance c
shift. When warmwe
mand for Coke, three
'on duty.
Besides the main
also work nearby i
square -foot facility
sandwiches; apples a
firm's vending-machin
Recently, Twentietl
sold Coca Cola Midw
Southern. Co. headqua
Park.: Bad times ki
■ Continued from Page 1 S
NI by Alice Pahl, a member of the bond
committee.
"I just want to get acrossthe point
that we definitely decided there was a
need, after a great deal of deliberation
— at the request of the council," she said
pointedly. Pederson contended that the
council should approve the bond issue be
cause of the weak economy.
` We feel that with economic condi-
tions the way they. are we . ought to 'get
started now," he said. "We spent a lot of •
time on the quality of .life here in West
St.' Paul, weee plat anand feel th t like \
_y pru_
dent homeowner we
investment." -
The committee's
a special May 11 e
issue was turned dov
"To ask fora spec
when the council is
is really very bad
Alderman John Jak
his reluctance to.v
election cost of $8,0
included' in the total
been approved bythi
Nevertheless, Klei
toil . "has not been
pects the economy