Philip Morris Expands Cigarette Plant in Cabarrus County, N.C.(Originated from The Charlotte Observer, N.C.)

Mar. 18--Cows graze and geese nap outside the huge Philip Morris cigarette factory in Cabarrus County. Inside, the parquet factory floors stay buffed to a mirror shine, and waist-high tool boxes line up like soldiers. Even forklifts park precisely.

All this serenity and order exists amid the largest factory expansion in N.C. history.

The $400 million project started in 1991 to increase production by nearly one half, from 85 billion cigarettes a year to 126 billion. That was scaled back in 1992, then stepped up. Now, it's even bigger: To support growing international sales and the increasing dominance of its top brand, Marlboro, Philip Morris plans to increase production capacity by another one-third.

That's almost 170 billion cigarettes -- 8.5 billion packs -- a year.

The new machines shoot out 14,000 cigarettes a minute. That makes those old 8,000-a-minute machines look downright poky.

"Demand dictates what we do," said Tom Gatz, general manager of the complex that expansion has made nearly twice the size of SouthPark mall. "With the demand lately, 20 to 60 percent of the machines are on overtime almost every week."

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