A staggering number of pet food cans found on American store shelves comes from a plant on the east side of Fort Dodge.

The Silgan Containers facility at 3591 Maple Drive produces 1.5 billion cans a year.

It also produces 4.9 billion ends for cans every year. The ends are basically the flat tops and bottoms of cans. Most of the tops have a kind of pull-tab on them, eliminating the need for a can opener.

Brian Bernhardt, director of manufacturing for Silgan Containers, described the Fort Dodge facility as “one of our most important plants.”

The Nestle Purina PetCare plant at 2400 Fifth Ave. S. is the plant’s main customer.

But the plant also makes the tops for cans of Spam and Campbell’s condensed soups.

The plant has 178 employees.

Its main manufacturing area is 230,000 square feet. There is also about 66,000 square feet of warehouse space.