Gov. Kotek: Facility will add 100 jobs, open next year.
Amid a drumbeat of factory closings and layoffs in Oregon, an international packaging giant has announced that Millersburg will be the site of a new manufacturing facility.
Ball Corp.’s “state-of-the-art” aluminum can manufacturing and warehousing facility is expected to add more than 100 jobs and open in mid-2026, according to an announcement from Gov. Tina Kotek’s office.
“We have a skilled workforce ready to deliver results for businesses looking to expand on the west coast,” she wrote. “And the long-term, good-paying manufacturing jobs this partnership brings will boost the economies of Millersburg, the region and the state of Oregon.”
Colorado-based Ball had hoped to reestablish a presence in the Pacific Northwest after closing a can factory in Kent, Wash. in early 2024, CEO Dan Fisher told investors in a February earnings call. Around that time, the company also acquired Florida Can Manufacturing in Winter Haven, Fla. for $160 million. Fisher said footholds in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest would help the company lower shipping costs. And in the case of the Northwest, Ball might benefit from “anti-plastic sentiment.”
The mid-Willamette Valley city of nearly 3,000 people was chosen for its ideal location, according to Kathleen Pitre, president of Ball Beverage Packaging North & Central America. Millersburg provides Ball with excellent proximity to “key customers, access to a skilled workforce, and a robust logistics infrastructure.”
Millersburg is also home to a facility for Cavco, formerly Palm Harbor Homes, a maker of manufactured and modular homes. Situated along Interstate 5 and major railways, Millersburg has hosted manufacturing plants for Weyerhaeuser, Wah Chang Corporation, Peak Sun Silicon and Timberlab.
“This new facility in Millersburg underscores Ball’s commitment to aligning our capacity with customer needs while maintaining operational excellence across our network,” Pitre wrote in a statement. “We appreciate the partnership with state and local officials and believe the region’s skilled workforce and strong infrastructure will serve our company and customers well.”
In 2022, officials christened an intermodal freight hub served by Union Pacific Railway at the former International Paper Mill in Millersburg. The site was chosen in part so agricultural freight could avoid Portland-area vehicle traffic and quickly access marine terminals to the north to reach a global marketplace.
In June, President Donald Trump announced he would raise the tariff on aluminum from 25% to 50%. A former Ball CEO spoke out against Trump’s 10% aluminum tariff in his first term, and local brewers say rising tariffs have created chaos in the industry.
With a workforce of around 16,000, Ball is the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum cans, earning $11.8 billion in 2024. The company maintains more than 100 facilities around the world; its Golden, Colo. plant alone produces 6 million cans per day. Though the company performed well last year, according to SEC filings, it was hurt by last year’s Bud Light boycott.
The new factory was announced earlier this month by the economic development agency Business Oregon, which helped to lure Ball to Oregon. It used a special public works fund to help Millersburg cover the cost of water and road access to the site. The city of Millersburg also received a $1 million grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to build a road to serve the new facility.
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