Tyson Foods will invest $84 million in an expansion to its poultry plant in Union City, Tennessee.
The project, set to begin this autumn and slated for completion by mid-2019, will add an extra 25,000 square feet in factory floor space overall. It includes an increase to the capacity of the plant’s existing harvest area, new processing lines, and upgrade to supporting operations including the hatchery, feed mill and transportation.
It comes after the US company undertook a major group restructuring, promoting three of its top executives to lead different areas of the business. Doug Ramsey, who, in April, had been promoted to president of poultry operations, took on the new role of group president of poultry.
Ramsey said: “Customer and consumer demand for protein, especially chicken, is increasing so we’re investing in projects that build on our strengths, expand our capabilities and increase our capacity. Expansions like this position us to grow and support our customers.”
The Union City facility is one of four operated by Tyson Foods in Tennessee – alongside Goodlettsville, Newbern and Shelbyville.
It produces partially fried chicken products for the company’s foodservice customers, employing more than 1,000 people and paying nearly $32 million in wages during the most recent financial year.
State-wide, Tyson has around 5,000 employees in Tennessee and an annual payroll in excess of $180 million.
The company predicted that the expansion project would create 300 new jobs.
The plant is located in Union City, Tennessee.
“Tyson has been an integral part of Obion County [where Union City is located] for 20 years and I’m pleased to see the company move forward with this 300-job expansion in Union City,” Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam said.
“With more than 1,000 employees in west Tennessee, Tyson’s impact on the community extends to the local farmers supported by its operations. I’d like to thank Tyson for its continued commitment to west Tennessee and to bringing us closer to making Tennessee the number one location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs.”
In order to meet the new capacity of the facility, Tyson Foods has said it will need to build nearly 200 additional broiler chicken houses in northwestern Tennessee within the next two years. It is attempting to recruit independent farmers to its Grow With Tyson initiative in order to help satisfy that need.
Tyson is already the US’ largest chicken producer, with 35 million chickens processed every week. The category accounts for 30% of the group’s overall revenue – second only to beef – with 45 of its US facilities given over to the production of chicken meat.
Its chicken business turned over an estimated $11.1 billion out of $37 billion overall in 2016.
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