Moderna Products Photo
Moderna Plastics makes plastic protected cat litter boxes.
Moderna Products Photo
Dog beds are among the products made by Moderna Plastics.
Moderna Products, a family-owned company headquartered in Izegem, Belgium, will locate in an existing 116,000-square-foot building in Gaffney. Modern specializes in creating, producing and distributing plastic products for pets such as litter boxes, food bowls and “traveling solutions for both dogs and cats, as well as other small animals.”
The company is expected to invest $6.5 million and add 35 jobs over the next five years with its first manufacturing operation in the U.S. An existing 116,000-square-foot plant will house the company.
Moderna Products is located off Interstate 85 and has connectivity to the S.C. Inland Port in Greer, as well as other interstate highways, which company CEO Bart Bonte said will help serve its “growing North American customer base.”
“This is what we hoped and envisioned for the area,” with the Inland Port, Wryley Bettis, Chairman of the Board for the Greer Development Corporation, said. Bettis said the company’s access to I-26 and I-85 gives it diverse transportation alternatives to ship its products quickly.
“We are very blessed to have foresighted people with vision who look out not just for Greer but for South Carolina,” Bettis said.
Bonte said, “We are very excited with this major step in Moderna’s growth. It is wonderful to be present as a domestic manufacturer in the biggest pet market in the world.”
The Gaffney facility is expected to be online late this year and hiring will begin in the fall, according to the company’s statement.
Dollar Tree, based in Chesapeake, Va., announced earlier this month it was expanding its operations with construction of a $104.4 million distribution center and adding 400 jobs in a business park on the Cherokee-Spartanburg county border.
Stephen White, Dollar Tree chief logistics officer, also commented on the upstate’s infrastructure as factor. “Dollar Tree has been extremely impressed with the South Carolina transportation infrastructure which will support the Upstate distribution center. The current Interstate 85 widening project and the efficiencies associated with the Greer Inland Port were instrumental in our site selection process,” White said.
Bettis said the upstate’s infrastructure must keep pace with the economic growth.
“Our challenge is of course keeping our infrastructure in order and keeping our roads up,” Bettis said.