Detpak USA's new manufacturing facility in Spartanburg represents the latest major economic development investment in the county. The company's first U.S. production operation is expected to create more than 50 jobs while supporting its growing North American market. Detpak USA photo
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Info Box: Want to work at the new facility?
Visit the Detpak career site online at https://www.detmoldgroup.com/careers/currentopportunities/
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While 2025 put Spartanburg first among all South Carolina counties for capital investment, 2026 is already looking to surpass the achievement with the recent landmark attraction of Detpak USA.
The 78-year-old Australian-based company, which supplies the food and beverage industry with sustainable paper and cardboard packaging, plans to build its first production operation in the U.S. in a 175,000 square-foot facility at 2781 New Cut Road in Spartanburg.
The site and investment, which is anticipated to total between $9.7 million and $12.2 million, will support the company’s North American market growth and utilize both imported and locally sourced raw materials from existing suppliers.
The company was approved by the Spartanburg City Council on June 15 for a 6 percent, 30-year Fee-In-Lieu-Of-Tax agreement.
And the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s Coordinating Council for Economic Development awarded a $100,000 set-aside grant to Spartanburg County to assist with the costs of building improvements.
“Detpak will be an excellent addition to our manufacturing,” said Upstate S.C. Alliance President and CEO John Lummus. “Our first contact with them was approximately one year ago, and they will provide good paying jobs to the residents of Spartanburg County and beyond.”
He pointed out that beyond just creating over 50 new jobs in its initial phase, Detpak will also bring a hidden, but added bonus of more jobs to other industries.
“Manufacturing jobs have a multiplier effect in the economy,” he said. “For every manufacturing job created, there are typically four additional jobs created in the local economy in professional services, commercial, and retail.”
Originally founded in 1948 as Detmold Group in Adelaide, South Australia, the company began expanding internationally in 1981 with packaging for the Food Service industry.
Products that you see or use routinely include containers for McDonald’s fries, plastic wrapping around Subway sandwiches, cups for to-go coffee, and boxes and bags of all kinds to carry Krispy-Kreme doughnuts, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and groceries.
Key markets so far include Malaysia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, as well as establishing its first sales and manufacturing hub in Singapore.
“Opening our own manufacturing facility in the United States is a key milestone for our business,” said Detpak CEO Sascha Detmold Cox. “It allows us to better support our customers with locally manufactured products and reinforces our commitment to the U.S. market.”
The new Spartanburg operations are expected to be online this August. Individuals interested in joining the team should visit the company’s careers page.
Detpak, however, is just the latest brushstroke in a larger developing picture to build Spartanburg into what Collier’s International calls the “Inland Empire of the East Coast."
In 2025 alone, for example, local chamber of commerce OneSpartanburg, Inc., landed 20 economic development projects on behalf of the City and County, totaling $3.5 billion in capital investment and the creation of 1,024 new job opportunities for residents.
The $3.5 billion not only surpassed every other county in the state by a wide margin, data from the South Carolina Department of Commerce indicates that it accounted for more than one-third of the entire state’s investment in 2025 – outpacing the combined county efforts of Greenville, Charleston, York, Union, and Cherokee – which placed second at $2.47 billion.
Recent business recruitment or expansion across the county has included NorthMark Strategies for a state-of-the-art high-performance computing center; Woodward, Inc. for aerospace applications; AIRSYS Cooling Technologies; pipe fabricator FabLogix; and ZF Chassis Systems.
And the wealth is spreading, as nearby Union County recently partnered with Spartanburg County in a Joint County Industrial Park – specifically the 164-acre Trakas site along Highway 9, contracted for the sole occupation of Fine Organics Americas LLC.
“Every company that lands in our Upstate region is important for the economy, no matter how large or small,” Lummus said. “Economic development is like a snowball rolling downhill: the more companies you have, the more you will be able to recruit. Companies look at the numbers of workers communities have in skilled positions before they make investment decisions. And Spartanburg County has the skilled workforce to support projects like Detpak.”
