Erie company adding 100 jobs in bagged-ice deal

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — An Erie company plans to add 100 jobs by the end of the year in a deal with a Texas firm to produce machines that will sell freshly bagged ice cubes in supermarkets and convenience stores.

Kold-Draft Industries has been making automatic ice cube machines since 1955.

Len Kosar, chief executive of Kold-Draft’s parent company, Erie Management Group, says 50 people will be hired by August and another 50 by the end of the year.

The new jobs are part of a partnership between Kold-Draft and In-Store Bagging Machine Co., which is based near Dallas.

The new machines will enable supermarkets and other stores to make, bag and sell logo-branded bags of ice.