Lightweight Containers opens U.S. keg production line

Lightweight Containers makes a commitment to the U.S. beer market with this new production facility.

Lightweight Containers has started up a new production line to make KeyKeg Slimlines and UniKegs in Joliet, Ill. The fully automated computer- and robot-driven line can produce the entire Slimline and UniKeg series depending on demand. Logoplaste supports and oversees the line’s daily production.

With the new line, Lightweight Containers is preparing for the rapid growth it anticipates in the United States.

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“In the last six years, our worldwide sales have grown by more than 40 percent a year,” said Anita Veenendaal, CCO of Lightweight Containers. “A production line in the U,S. will enable us to respond to the growing demand more quickly and flexibly. We also know that there’s broad support from the American society for setting up a factory there, since we’re contributing to the U.S. economy.”

The new plant was designed in close collaboration with the manufacturing specialist Logoplaste. Logoplaste takes care of organizing the line’s daily production, which the company says enables it to grow faster in the United States, as well as to concentrate more on R&D, sales and marketing.

KeyKegs are now produced at three locations: Schwerin (Germany), Den Helder (the Netherlands) and Joliet. A fourth production line in Germany will be opened in mid-2016. UniKegs will be produced in Joliet.