Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin (December 7th, 2020)-Nestlé announced that it is investing $50 million to expand and modernize their Nestlé Health Science manufacturing site. Located in Eau Claire Wisconsin, the expansion will add another 70 new jobs to the Chippewa Valley area. According to a company press release, the new production lines are expected to be operational in early 2022.
“This major investment will make the Eau Claire facility Nestlé’s largest Health Science manufacturing site,” Jean-Denis Fournier, vice president of technical and production for Nestlé Health Science USA, said.
The Eau Claire facility and division of Nestlé creates nutrition products used by health care institutions, patients, and consumers. The plant’s current production lines include BOOST nutritional drinks, Gerber and Good Start baby formulas, and medical nutrition products under the names Peptamen and IMPACT. The expansion will add BOOST Kids Essentials and some Carnation Breakfast Essentials products to the plant’s output.
“Eau Claire is the only dedicated Nestlé Health Science facility within the United States and has the competencies and capabilities to absorb these new production lines,” Fournier stated. Charlie Walker President CEO of the Chippewa Economic Development Corporation noted that “Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley have outstanding workers who have the competencies, skills, and work ethic that expanding companies like Nestlé need. Nestlé has been an outstanding corporate citizen in Eau Claire since the late 1980’s. and continues to be a major Chippewa Valley exporter sending their products to Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Taiwan.”
Nestlé also stressed that the Eau Claire facility is a zero-waste-to-landfill facility with plans to be powered by 100% renewable electricity by 2025. This investment will allow Nestlé to eliminate all straws on product packaging manufactured at the Eau Claire facility, representing 125 million plastic straws per year. In addition, all of the medical nutrition products produced at the facility will be converted to more user-friendly re-closable packaging that may help consumers reduce food waste.
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