Ross Schulz, The Corydon Democrat
The Corydon Tyson Foods Inc. facility, already the sixth largest employer in the Louisville area, will add almost 80 jobs within the next year.
The world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, announced plans last week to expand its poultry processing in Corydon by investing $626,000 in new equipment to relocate chicken deboning lines from Arkansas and Missouri to the 130,000 square-foot facility in Harrison County.
Harrison County Economic Development Corp. Director Darrell Voelker said the Corydon complex, which employs 650 people, has been working for some time to bring the deboning line to Corydon.
"Instead of continuing to ship certain cuts of chicken to outside plants in other states for deboning, we've decided to do the work right here in Indiana," David Whittington, Tyson's Corydon complex manager, said. "We are now starting to ramp up the new production line and anticipate full production by early December. We believe Indiana is a great place to do business, and we are excited to be expanding during such challenging economic times."
When the deboning equipment arrives, Voelker said, Department of Agriculture officials and others will be invited to the facility for a tour.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Tyson Foods up to $160,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. Also, the economic development corporation will provide an additional $50,000 for workforce training and other expenses to assist with expansion.
"Harrison County has experienced job losses from the automotive and woodworking sectors in recent years, so the Tyson expansion will provide a much needed boost to our local economy," Voelker said. "It is also important to note that the quality partnership between the IEDC and the Harrison County community has given Tyson the confidence needed to make this investment."
The Corydon branch of the Fortune 500 company produces more than 127 million pounds of fried, marinated and rotisserie chicken per year for grocery store delis.
Tyson Foods, founded in 1935, provides products to customers in more than 90 countries and has 300 locations throughout the world employing 107,000 associates. In 2008, the company recorded $26.9 billion in revenue.