The new expansion at Wayne Farms Enterprise manufacturing facility could benefit Covington County residents who are looking for jobs, Brian Talton, assistant plant human resource manager, said.

Wayne Farms is one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. with annual sales exceeding $2 billion. It operates three production complexes in Alabama’s Wiregrass region, where it employs more than 3,000 people.

The $105 million expansion project is expected to be complete in January 2019. With the new hires, Wayne Farms’ total workforce at the Enterprise facility will number more than 1,700.

“If you look at a map, we have several farmers within Covington County,” Talton said. “We don’t just have the processing plant in Enterprise, our reach is broad.”

Talton said that Wayne Farms could greatly impact Covington County’s unemployment percentage.

“We are offering quality jobs,” Talton said. “The jobs will be a solid 40 hours a week with benefits. It is definitely a livable wage for the Covington County area.”

While Wayne Farms has been more focused on recruiting from the east side of Alabama, now they are shifting their focus to the west.

“There may not be an abundance of these types of jobs in Covington County,” Talton said. “We have been focusing on the east side of Alabama, but we want to look towards the west now and put all of our focus on that.”

Talton said that they will hire in every department in their facility.

“We will be hiring every department we have available,” Talton said. “We have 386 hourly positions available and 36 salaried positions. That will cover everything from our maintenance technicians, sanitary technicians, our processing department and all the way to the marinating department.”

Talton said that working for Wayne Farms means that the employee will always be put first.

“Here at Wayne Farms, we understand that the people come first,” Talton said. “We show that by caring for our employees’ welfare, improving our break room, working with holiday schedules and having competitive wages. We don’t want to play around with hours like at some retail manufacturers. You will always have a solid 40 hour week and the chance to get overtime.”

The expansion project will add a new processing line with state-of-the-industry technologies and processing equipment. It will focus on Wayne Farms’ new Naked Truth premium chicken brand.

“We will have the first atmospheric stunning system in the nation,” Talton said. “We are always on the cutting edge of technology.”

Application information is available at www.waynefarms.jobs.