A new facility in Hattiesburg will bottle 350,000 cases of Pepsi and Dr Pepper products a week.

Officials gathered Wednesday for the opening of the 236,000-square-foot Pepsi South plant in the Forrest County Industrial Park. The plant has 54 full-time workers.

A news release from Brown Bottling Group says Wis-Pak, a consortium of Pepsi production facilities, chose Hattiesburg because of its central location in southern Mississippi, its strong work force and the support of local officials.

Brown Bottling Group is based in Ridgeland, Miss., and is a member of Wis-Pak.

Wis-Pak is based in Watertown, Wis., and has production facilities in Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Mississippi.