Tyson Begins Demolition Work for $100 Million Texas Plant Renovation

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated Houston, Texas). Tyson Fresh Meats (Dakota Dunes, South Dakota), a division of Tyson Foods Incorporated (NYSE:TSN) (Springdale, Arkansas), has begun renovating the former Oscar Mayer plant in Sherman, Texas, in order to establish a new case-ready meat products operation that will be the largest of its kind in the company's huge plant portfolio.

Demolition of the concrete floor in the 537,000 square foot plant is underway to make way for new underground utilities and concrete plant floor production area. The foundation portion of the work is expected to take about two months to complete.

New equipment is expected to begin arriving at the plant around June or July of this year, and the company will install multiple packing and fabrication lines to produce case-ready, pre-packaged cuts of fresh beef and pork products that are ready for retail sale. At full capacity, the plant will have the capability of processing over six million pounds of product per week and employ over 1,600 people.

The company is acting as its own general contractor for the $100 million project. The renovation is on a fast track construction schedule and should be completed and operational by March 2006.

The plant was originally built by Oscar Mayer in 1974 to produce bacon, hot dogs, and sausage, and then closed in 1998. As originally reported by Industrialinfo.com in August of 2000, IBP, now a part of Tyson, had purchased the property in 2000 and had plans for a $40 million renovation that fizzled out after the merger. In May of 2004, plans started coming together for the case-ready operation.

Tyson Foods Incorporated was founded in 1935 and is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, and the second-largest food company in the Fortune 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products, which are marketed under the "Powered by Tyson"” strategy. Tyson has approximately 114,000 team members employed at more than 300 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world.

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