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Brian May (left), plant director for applesauce maker Charles & Alice, explains how the pouch-filling equipment works at the Yellow Goose Road plant.

This is the interior of the Charles & Alice applesauce production plant on Yellow Goose Road. A pasteurizer tank is in the foreground and a pouch-filler machine is in the background.

This is another view of the Charles & Alice applesauce-making plant on Yellow Goose Road. A pouch-filling machine is to the left; pasteurizer and mix tanks are to the right

Charles & Alice gives away apple peels and seeds -- the byproducts of its applesauce production -- to a local farmer. The farmer uses it for livestock feed.

Brian May (left), plant director for applesauce maker Charles & Alice, explains how the pouch-filling equipment works at the Yellow Goose Road plant.

This is the interior of the Charles & Alice applesauce production plant on Yellow Goose Road. A pasteurizer tank is in the foreground and a pouch-filler machine is in the background.

This is another view of the Charles & Alice applesauce-making plant on Yellow Goose Road. A pouch-filling machine is to the left; pasteurizer and mix tanks are to the right

Charles & Alice gives away apple peels and seeds -- the byproducts of its applesauce production -- to a local farmer. The farmer uses it for livestock feed.

As dignitaries took turns at the podium in the new Charles & Alice plant Monday, their amplified voices competed with clattering production equipment behind them.

Not that anyone seemed to mind.

“That sound you hear in the back sounds like money to me,” quipped state Agriculture Secretary George Greig to a crowd of about 60 people.

The occasion for the gathering was the cutting of a ceremonial ribbon to mark the opening of the gleaming applesauce-production plant.

The one-time popcorn-making site at 2870 Yellow Goose Road, opposite the Kellogg cereal plant, is the first U.S. production facility for the French firm.

And the best is yet to come, Plant Director Brian May indicated.

That’s because only a third of the production equipment has been installed in the leased 55,000-square-foot building.

Charles & Alice, now running four 10-hour shifts a week, employs 16 in a facility where the firm has invested $5.5 million.

Another six are expected to be hired by year-end.

But over the next 30 to 36 months, the number of production lines should rise from one to three.

The three lines will operate around the clock with three shifts, five days a week.

So the capacity of the East Hempfield Township site will increase from 40 million pouches per year to 120 million.

That will be made possible by boosting the investment to $10.6 million and the work force to 55 employees.

“I can see this thing taking off quickly,” said May. “We’re seeing a lot of interest out there.”

The launch of the facility took off quickly too.

From the start of the extensive renovations and the installation of equipment in late April, the plant began commercial production Aug. 5 — a little more than three months later.

Among the first customers of the no-sweetener-added applesauce are Weis, Redner’s, Stauffers of Kissel Hill and Karns.

The product is marketed as “squeezable fruit” since it’s sold in 3.2-ounce pouches.

The arrival of Charles & Alice was sparked by a 2012 trade mission to France by Gov. Tom Corbett.

The state helped persuade Charles & Alice to come to Pennsylvania with a $1.57 million package of grants, tax credits and a low-interest loan.

Pennsylvania’s supply of gala and golden delicious apples also was appealing to the firm.

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