With construction well underway, a German manufacturer is on track for a spring 2025 opening of a more than $35 million Kenosha plant that will be its largest North American facility.

Schutz Container Systems Inc. is building a 371,000-square-foot facility on 60th Street in Kenosha, west of Green Bay Road. Construction began a few weeks ago, according to Kenosha Director of City Development Tim Casey, who also shared the project’s total cost and the expected opening date.

The plant will initially employ around 100 people, and additional hiring is expected to ramp up after that over a three-year period, Casey said.

Schutz makes intermediate bulk containers, as well as drums and other industrial container systems. The Kenosha plant will focus on manufacturing intermediate bulk containers, Casey said.

Intermediate bulk containers are cube-shaped plastic containers with bases the size of a shipping pallet that are used to transport liquids ranging from chemicals to food and beverage products, according to Casey and Schutz’s website.

The Kenosha plant will be Schutz’s first Wisconsin location. It has other U.S. locations in Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, California, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to its website. The company has around 7,000 employees globally.

Schutz purchased its Kenosha site in 2021, paying $4.5 million for 24 acres. The company was drawn to the site in part due to its location between two railroad lines, Casey said.

The city of Kenosha and the Kenosha Area Business Alliance worked with Schutz over the last three years, Casey said. The company is not receiving public incentives through tax incremental financing, although the property is within an existing tax incremental district, he said.

Read more at the Milwaukee Business Journal.