Wisynco Group Limited will today unveil a rebuilt complex that is nearly 50 per cent bigger, and will soon sport a new beverage plant and cold storage facility, all costing the company more than $2 billion.
Speaking ahead of the official opening of the Sam Mahfood Distribution Centre, company Chairman William Mahfood says the company has managed to rise from the ashes of the old facility destroyed by fire last year, to one that is bigger and better. The centre is named for William’s father.
It took an investment of US$20 million ($2.6 billion), partly financed by the insurance payout for the fire as well as bank debt.
“The original facility was 250,000 square feet, we’ll have 120,000 square feet more warehouse space and a new 25,000-square-foot cold storage facility is being built,” Mahfood told the Financial Gleaner.
“We had the fire in May [2016]. There was a lot of cleaning up and demolition to do, then we started the construction and expansion in August last year and now, here we are,” Mahfood said.
The destroyed facility was fully insured.
The new beverage plant, with two new drinks lines, will increase Wisynco’s total manufacturing capacity by 50 per cent.
“This will make us that largest drinks plant in the English-speaking Caribbean. With that sort of capacity, we will be in a position to launch into export markets – we’re looking aggressively at that,” Mahfood said.
The Wisynco chairman, who as head of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica two to three years ago, aggressively lobbied for a more level competitive trading field, especially with Caricom partner Trinidad, now says he has noted a shift in the economic environment that is more conducive to Jamaican companies tapping into markets offshore and in the neighbourhood.
Leave A Comment