Sherwin-Williams Opens Its Largest North American Plant in North Carolina

Sherwin-Williams has completed a major expansion in Statesville, North Carolina, turning the longtime facility into the paint and coatings company’s largest manufacturing plant in North America.

The expanded plant adds nearly 50,000 square feet of improvements, increased automation, additional production capacity and four new rail spurs designed to move raw materials and finished products more efficiently. Sherwin-Williams marked the completion with a Sept. 30 grand opening.

The manufacturing site works alongside a new 800,000-square-foot distribution and fleet transportation center nearby, creating a larger production and logistics hub north of Charlotte.

A $324 million bet on Statesville

The project was announced in 2022 with a planned investment of about $324 million and a commitment to create 183 jobs.

At the time, Sherwin-Williams said the additional positions would essentially double the plant’s existing workforce. The project also qualified for roughly $30 million in state and local incentives.

Sherwin-Williams originally expected the manufacturing and distribution expansion to be completed by the end of 2024. The company celebrated the finished manufacturing project nearly two years later, on Sept. 30, 2026.

The company has operated in Statesville since 1993 and chose to expand there after considering multiple locations. Transportation access, an existing skilled workforce and the ability to connect manufacturing with regional distribution were among the reasons for staying in North Carolina.

More paint, but also a bigger logistics operation

The expansion adds millions of gallons of annual production capacity for architectural paints and coatings.

But the scale of the project also reflects how manufacturing increasingly depends on logistics. Rail access, automated production and the nearby distribution center allow Sherwin-Williams to manufacture products in Statesville and move them more quickly through its North American network.

The company sells Sherwin-Williams products through thousands of its own stores while brands including Valspar, Krylon and Minwax also reach customers through major retailers and other channels.

For Statesville, the completed project is one of the largest industrial investments in the city’s history.

And for North Carolina, it adds another major manufacturing operation to the Interstate 77 corridor, with a plant that now sits at the top of Sherwin-Williams’ North American production network.