Bucharest, October 11, 2023 – by rbj – The American giant PepsiCo inaugurated the investment in three automated production lines in the Star Foods factory near Bucharest, in Popești-Leordeni, where it produces chips and other food products, Lay’s, Lay’s Baked, Star and Doritos. Through this investment, the company doubled its production capacity and transformed the factory in Romania into a European-sized production and distribution center.
The $100 million investment, announced last year and planned to be completed in 2024, was critical to achieving this ambitious goal. This included the addition of three operational production lines and the construction of a new automated warehouse. Also, significant improvements in automation were implemented and a new development plan was developed for the PepsiCo snack factory.
The factory in Popești-Leordeni currently has an annual production capacity of 39,000 tons and serves 17 countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Ukraine, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
With the installation of the new production lines, PepsiCo Romania has located almost its entire product portfolio for the Romanian market (Lay’s, Star, Doritos), more precisely in a proportion of over 95%.
As for the automated warehouse, it will be inaugurated in the first half of next year. It will be equipped with an auto-palletizer that will ensure full automation of the link between the production lines and the warehouse, thus optimizing efficiency. The investment in the new automated warehouse is part of PepsiCo’s efforts to achieve the long-term goals of the pep+ agenda, aiming to immediately eliminate more than 200 tons of direct greenhouse gas emissions generated by transfers between warehouses.
PepsiCo products are consumed in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo has generated more than $1 billion in revenue by 2022, driven by a food and beverage portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s portfolio consists of a diverse range of food and beverage products, including numerous brands that each generate more than $1 billion in retail sales annually.
PepsiCo has been operating in Romania for over 30 years. In the last 10 years, PepsiCo has directly invested 320 million dollars in Romania, consolidating its role as a regional production and distribution hub.