Plant opens in Tremonton

TREMONTON — Land once used to raise hogs and turkeys will now be used to cook them.

"This ground has gone full circle from raising (hogs and turkeys) to slicing them up and serving them," said Tremonton Mayor Max Weese on Tuesday during ceremonies celebrating West Liberty Foods' grand opening.

The new 217,000-square-foot Tremonton facility, located just off I-15 in Tremonton, is the company's first plant outside of Iowa and plans to employ about 500 people from northern Utah. The company produces processed meat and poultry.

"This is a very big deal for the community," said Jeff Edwards, president and chief executive officer for the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. "A lot of businesses are looking up here."

The governor's office offered the company $2 million in tax rebates to come to Utah.

"We're grateful to have West Liberty here and it's a great time to be in Utah," said Mike Nelson, managing director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Millard Refrigerated Services, based in Omaha, Neb., also built a facility next to the West Liberty Food plant. West Liberty, a client of Millard, asked the company to come to Utah so West Liberty could continue to use its services, said Roger Rau, vice president of operations for Millard.

West Liberty first looked to Pleasant View to build the plant, but issues with the wetlands forced the company to look elsewhere. Paul Hill, West Liberty Foods chairman, recalled the warm feelings company executives had when first visiting Tremonton and said they have "bonded with the city, county and state."

Several patents are pending for designs to be used in the new facility, Nelson said. West Liberty president and chief executive officer, Ed Garrett said the company will employ innovative processing technologies "never done before in the U.S." He said the slicing machines used will be 10 feet, instead of the usual five feet. Also, different processes, such as cooking and slicing, will be done in different rooms with separate, water, air and drainage systems.

Local leaders who attended said the community's greatest asset to the company would be the workers, which will come not only from Tremonton, but southern Idaho, Logan and Weber County as well.

"This work force (has) some of the greatest people in the world," said U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R- Utah.

So far the company hasn't seen any problems with finding workers and has a "large pool of applicants" despite Utah's low unemployment rate.

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E-mail: csmith@desnews.com