Varun Beverages signed an exclusive PepsiCo agreement to manufacture and package Cheetos in Morocco through its subsidiary Varun Beverages Morocco. It will invest Rs 100 crore in a dedicated plant, with commercial production expected from 1 May 2025.

Yuanda Valve Group is building a 50,000-ton-per-year precision valve processing project in Longyao County, Hebei, China, with total investment of 1.24 billion yuan; the first phase is due for production by year-end 2024.

NETZSCH Pumps & Systems is building a new production plant at its Brazilian manufacturing site that will take over global production of NOTOS multiple screw pumps.

KITZ Corporation will establish a new factory building at its subsidiary KITZ Corporation of Vietnam in Tang Long III Industrial Park, Vinh Phuc Province, for high-purity gas diaphragm valves for semiconductor equipment, with an investment of 4.5 billion yen and operations starting November 2025.

Viega will build a new manufacturing facility in Mantua, Ohio, for its ProPress and MegaPress metal pipe fittings, an investment of about $200 million, with production scheduled for early 2025 and over 68 new jobs.

Deshbandhu Group is building a 100% export-oriented jumbo bag plant in Palash upazila, Narsingdi, with an investment of Tk300 crore and about 2,000 planned jobs, with production scheduled for June 2024.

Tricor, part of the Rengo/Tri-wall Group, held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new heavy duty corrugated packaging factory in Weeze-Goch, Germany, with production set to start in July 2025.

Belgian company Teblick invested €4.3 million in a new 4,000 m² plant in El Far d'Empordà (Girona), relocating from Vilamalla in January 2024, with 15 workers and a planned gradual expansion.

TRICOR Group held the groundbreaking for a €170 million heavy corrugated board plant in the Weeze-Goch region of Germany, expected to employ more than 200 people.

Klabin is establishing a new cardboard box factory in Piracicaba, São Paulo, with 240,000 tonnes capacity and an investment of R$1.57 billion, with operations expected to start in Q2 2024.

Taiyuan Heavy Industry's Yuci Hydraulic unit plans a new hydraulic component R&D workshop in Yuci District, Jinzhong, Shanxi, with capacity of 35,000 pump and valve units per year. Investment is 52 million yuan, with construction planned for 2024 to 2025.

Simflo has opened a 35,000-square-foot engineered products facility in Lubbock, Texas, as announced on February 8, 2024.

Korean fittings and valve maker Hanseon Engineering is ramping up mass production of semiconductor safety and relief valves and is building a second factory near its Busan headquarters, targeted for completion early next year.

Multipak, part of Xignux, began construction of a $7.4 million plant at the Centro Logistico Industrial in Durango, Mexico, expected to create about 300 jobs and start operations in late 2024.

WIKA opened a new plant in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on a 3,000 square metre site producing pressure, temperature, level and flow measurement products, with more than 100 jobs planned over the next few years.

Bermo Valvulas e Equipamentos Industriais will invest R$60 million to expand its manufacturing complex in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, on the largest land plot ARI Group has acquired outside Germany. The new plant is expected to open in 2026.

Saica Group is reportedly planning a $130 million corrugated box facility in Anderson, Indiana, for which it has asked the Anderson Plan Commission to use 39 acres. The plant would initially employ 60 people and would be Saica's second US facility.

Imbal Carton plans a 20,000 square meter corrugated cardboard plant in Piadena Drizzona, Cremona, in collaboration with German multinational Progrup, with a EUR 15 million investment including machinery. Construction is planned to start next year, with turnkey delivery expected by 2026 and 50 initial jobs.

Interpump Hydraulics has laid the foundation stone of its new 62,000 square meter headquarters in Sala Bolognese, near Bologna, Italy, with an investment of about 30 million euros. Staff from Calderara di Reno and Bologna will move there starting in 2025.

A.Y. McDonald plans a $340 million project in Grant County, Wisconsin, including a new brass foundry in Dickeyville, scheduled for production in 2026, and expansion at its Kieler plant. The project is expected to create 173 jobs over five years.

Welch Packaging Group plans to open a new production facility in Wooster, Ohio, creating 50 new jobs, after the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved tax credit assistance for the project.

Continental's ContiTech unit will build a hydraulic hose plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, with an investment of around 90 million dollars. The first stage will create more than 200 jobs, with construction planned for the second half of 2024 and operations expected in the second half of 2025.

Violeta, owned by Petar Corluka, is opening a 30,000 sq m corrugated carton packaging factory in Grude, with a 35 million euro investment. Test production began in December 2023 and the official opening is expected soon.

Emerson is developing a manufacturing hub at King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) in Saudi Arabia, built by Saudi AMANA. The facility will produce automation products such as control valves and safety systems, with completion expected in late 2024.

Belmark Inc. will locate a new 156,000-square-foot flexible packaging plant in Allen County, Kentucky, with a nearly $99 million investment creating 159 jobs. Construction is expected to begin in June 2025 and finish in 2026.

WestRock plans a state-of-the-art corrugated box plant of over 550,000 square feet in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, for about $140 million, with construction expected in 2024 and completion in 2025.

SIG laid the foundation for its first aseptic carton plant in India, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The investment is about €100 million (INR 880 crores), phased over 2023-2025, targeting up to 4 billion packs per year, with commercial production expected by the end of 2024.

Cascades converted the former Bear Island paper mill in Hanover County, Virginia into a recycled linerboard facility, announced in October 2020 with a $380 million investment. The first roll of containerboard was produced in May 2023.

Saica has commenced construction of a new corrugated board factory in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Catalonia, with an investment of more than $107.8 million. Operations are scheduled to start in 2025 and the plant will replace two existing sites.

Gradient, a startup making window-mounted heat pumps, is in line for $17.5 million in federal funding to establish a Michigan plant employing about 300 people with capacity of 100,000 units a year. The final contracts have not yet been signed.

XCMG Hydraulics' high-end hydraulic valve project in the XZ High-tech Development Zone has been put into production, with capacity of 30,000 high-end hydraulic cylinders and 30,000 hydraulic valves a year, after a total investment of over 700 million yuan.

Fosber Asia held a topping-out ceremony for its new intelligent corrugator factory in Songxia Industrial Park, Foshan, marking completion of the main construction phase. The project has an investment of about 500 million yuan on a 13-acre site.

A joint venture involving Hell Energy and the Azerbaijan Investment Company plans an aluminum beverage can production and filling plant in the Alat Free Economic Zone. Design work is being finalized and construction is expected to start soon, with 280 permanent jobs anticipated.

GEA began operations at a new 86,000 square-foot fabrication, repair, logistics and training facility in Janesville, Wisconsin, representing about USD 20 million of investment. The site employs over 70 people.

Emerson signed with the Wuqing Development Area in Tianjin, China to build a production and R&D base on about 150 acres of industrial land in the area's third phase.

Mold-Tek Packaging acquired land in Mahad, Maharashtra for a 1,500-tonne manufacturing plant with an investment of INR 20 crore, to supply pails to Grasim Industries. The plant is expected to be set up by October.

Mold-Tek Packaging opened new rigid plastic manufacturing units in Panipat (Haryana), Cheyyar (Tamil Nadu) and Sultanpur (Telangana) with a total investment of more than INR 100 crore, adding 5,500 tonnes of capacity. The company announced it on January 8, 2024.

Russian group Arnest is building an aluminum beverage can plant in Ulyanovsk's Zavolzhye industrial park, with investment above 10 billion rubles, capacity up to 2,000 cans per minute, and first line launch planned for Q1 2024.

CMN Technology is constructing a new factory of about 49,047 square meters in Taizhou Bay New District, Zhejiang, with total investment of 500 million yuan, expected to complete in 2024.

Precision hydraulic componentry maker Oilpath will build a new engineering and manufacturing facility of nearly 3,000 square metres at the Tonsley Innovation District, relocating from Edwardstown. The investment is about AU$7 million.

Aosheng Pump (Zhejiang) started construction of its high-end valve and fire pump project in Deqing County, Zhejiang, with total investment of 320 million yuan. The plant will produce 20,000 valves and 1,000 fire pumps per year; the ceremony was held on January 3, 2024.

Spanish packaging group Saica, through its UK subsidiary Saica Pack, lodged a full planning application for a 485,000 sq ft corrugated fibreboard factory on a 25-acre site at Invest NI's Carnbane Industrial Estate in Newry. The investment is expected to be in the tens of millions and will relocate its Warrenpoint operation.

Aux Group's project to build a smart air-conditioning compressor plant with annual capacity of 30 million units in Wuhu, Anhui, was launched at a provincial start-of-construction event. Total investment is about 5 billion yuan, with completion expected in March 2025 and 3,000 jobs created.

Nanzhen held the groundbreaking ceremony on 2 January 2024 for the second phase of its smart manufacturing center in the Nanjing Binjiang Development Zone, planned for vacuum and compression products with annual capacity of 500 systems.

GAZAB announced a new factory in the Damavand 2 industrial zone in Iran to expand manufacturing of pipe fittings, flanges and valves for oil, gas and petrochemical industries. No investment amount or timeline was given.

Zhejiang-based pump and valve maker Sevis Pump & Valve signed a project to build a plant producing 100,000 sets per year of ship, ultra-low temperature and marine hydrogen valves on 39 mu of new land in Haiyan Economic Development Zone, with total investment of 200 million yuan and construction starting April 2024.

Beverage packaging company Multipack announced a $10.4 million production facility in Caddo Parish, Shreveport, Louisiana, creating 141 direct jobs, with production expected to start in Q3 2024.

Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (SIDPEC) of Egypt and Ran Gas Limited of Nigeria plan a joint $30 million plant in Alexandria to produce one million LPG cylinders per year, mainly for export to Nigeria from 2027. The information comes from an unnamed government official.

Hubei Tongfang Gaoke Pump Co began construction on a digital, flexible smart manufacturing base in Ezhou's Gedian Economic Development Zone on 20 December 2023. The project has a total investment of about 180 million yuan and will produce liquid ring vacuum pumps and turbo compressor units.

Inventum Technologies opened a new second factory next to its existing plant in Houten, Netherlands, dedicated to producing indoor heat pumps. The facility adds capacity of 80,000 indoor heat pumps per year.