Keystone Today

Gov. Tom Wolf recently toured the aluminum can manufacturing facility CANPACK where he celebrated the work done through his Governor’s Action Team (GAT) since 2015, which includes private investments amounting to $17.8 billion to support Pennsylvania communities.

CANPACK is a facility in Olyphant that was part of the 2020 GAT deal, according to the release on the governor’s website. The site it was on was a 908,000-square-foot aluminum can facility. The facility has created more than 500 jobs for Pennsylvanians. Wolf highlighted 194,000 jobs created and retained through GAT, as well as the 430 completed projects that have been done.

“It’s quite an honor to see the manufacturing powerhouse that CANPACK has brought to the Greater Scranton Area,” Wolf said. “Five hundred jobs for this community is a really big deal, and it’s just one example out of 430 projects that we’ve made possible across Pennsylvania over the past eight years.”

Peter Giorgi, the president and CEO of Giorgi Global Holdings, Inc., said that more than 30 years ago his company invested in CANPACK. It has grown from being a single steel food can manufacturing facility in Poland, to a multinational packaging manufacturer with 8,000 employees and 28 sites all around the world. 

“We are extremely excited to bring CANPACK into the United States, the world’s largest aluminum beverage can market,” Giorgi said. “Despite many attractive locations, we chose Pennsylvania not only because it’s my home and home for many of GIORGI GLOBAL HOLDINGS’ other agricultural and food packaging businesses but also because of the warm welcome we have received from Gov. Wolf and the Governor’s Action Team, the Department of Community and Economic Development, the Mid-Valley School District, Lackawanna County and the Borough of Olyphant.”

The CANPACK facility in Lackawanna County was supported through a $6 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant, and then was matched by CANPACK with an investment of $366 million. This is the ninth largest investment through GAT and is the largest manufacturing project in the Greater Scranton Area since Proctor and Gamble in 1966.

Through GAT, incentives of $396.3 million for the support of new and growing businesses has led to $17.8 billion in private investments, $476.15 million in local tax revenue and $417.62 million in new state revenue. The state has also gained $102 for every dollar invested in private support. More than 67% of jobs created through GAT have been in manufacturing, which has even increased to 84% in 2021.

“Over the course of my administration, we’ve worked hard to bring new businesses, like CANPACK, to Pennsylvania and help those already here to expand in support of our economy, our workforce, and our communities,” said Gov. Wolf. “In just the past year, we’ve created and retained more than 8,300 jobs with an average salary of $55,000 – that’s 8,300 good jobs that pay well, created through government that works.”