en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, International Paper held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new sustainable packaging plant in Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi. The project, with an investment of $225 million, will build a 468,000-square-foot corrugated packaging facility on an 80-acre site in the East Metro Center, serving customer needs in the South-Central region of the United States.
This new plant is part of International Paper's manufacturing network renewal project for its North American packaging business. Corrugated packaging is widely used in scenarios such as food and beverage, consumer goods, industrial products, e-commerce distribution, retail replenishment, and supply chain turnover. Customer requirements for packaging strength, delivery reliability, print quality, sustainable materials, and order response speed continue to rise. The core objective of International Paper's new plant in Mississippi is to enhance regional manufacturing efficiency and customer service capabilities, rather than simply adding an ordinary packaging production site.
The project site is located in Brandon, less than 10 miles from International Paper's existing Richland/Jackson related facilities. According to the company's previous plans, the plant will replace some outdated infrastructure. Construction work is scheduled to begin in June 2026, with completion and production expected by the end of 2027. After the new plant is completed, employees from the nearby existing Jackson facility will transfer to the new facility, and the project is also expected to create over 20 new positions.
The plant site is located near the CPKC railway, which has practical significance for packaging manufacturing and regional supply chains. Corrugated packaging production requires high-frequency logistics connections between paperboard, containerboard, auxiliary materials, and downstream customers. Railway and road conditions directly affect the efficiency of raw material inbound logistics, finished product outbound shipments, and cross-regional distribution. International Paper's decision to locate the new plant on an 80-acre site in the East Metro Center helps reserve space for subsequent equipment layout, logistics organization, and capacity expansion.
International Paper positions this project as a sustainable packaging facility. The company stated that the new plant will provide sustainable corrugated packaging solutions to customers across multiple industries, used to protect products, strengthen supply chains, and support sustainable development goals. For the packaging industry, sustainability is not only reflected in replacing plastics with paper-based materials but also includes production efficiency, waste paper recycling, energy consumption, transportation radius, packaging reduction, and customer supply chain collaboration. By building modern new plants, large packaging enterprises can improve operational performance in equipment efficiency, automation, order switching, and quality consistency.
This investment also occurs against the backdrop of International Paper's continuous adjustment of its manufacturing network. Over the past year, fluctuations in U.S. packaging demand, cost pressures, and industry consolidation have led large paper packaging companies to close or consolidate inefficient assets while investing capital in new facilities with stronger regional service capabilities. International Paper had previously advanced the closure and business restructuring of some U.S. packaging plants and completed the acquisition of DS Smith in 2025, further concentrating its business focus on the sustainable packaging sector.
For Mississippi, the new plant represents a combined investment in manufacturing and logistics infrastructure. The Rankin County economic development agency stated that the project will bring 150 high-quality manufacturing jobs and strengthen the county's positioning as an industrial investment hub for Mississippi and the Southeastern United States. The employment figures here differ in statistical perspective from the company's statements regarding new positions and existing employee transfers; the actual employment impact will depend on subsequent construction and operational progress.
However, groundbreaking and planned construction do not equate to the plant already being operational. The project still needs to go through stages such as civil construction, equipment installation, commissioning, personnel transfer, customer certification, and production ramp-up. For downstream customers, the real value of the new plant will only be realized based on delivery stability, product quality, logistics efficiency, and synergy with the existing regional plant network after production commences around the end of 2027.
Key areas for future observation will focus on the construction progress of International Paper's Brandon plant, the level of equipment automation, arrangements for transferring employees from the existing Jackson facility, and whether the project can enhance the company's responsiveness in the South-Central U.S. corrugated packaging market. International Paper's construction of a 468,000-square-foot packaging plant in Mississippi indicates that the paper-based packaging industry is continuing to compete around sustainable materials, supply chain resilience, and regional manufacturing efficiency by building new high-efficiency facilities and consolidating old capacity.
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