Pork plant upgrades create 250 jobs
By Food in Canada magazine staff
Business OperationsA Manitoba pork processing plant has upgraded its facility, adding a second shift and creating 250 jobs by the end of the year
Neepawa, Man. – A pork processing company will be ramping up production by the end of the year at its newly upgraded and expanded hog slaughtering plant.
Hylife Foods, reports the MeatSite.com, made a series of upgrades, including the construction of a new industrial wastewater treatment plant. The company also added a new carcass cooler and receiving facility, and added a second shift.
More capacity, new jobs
The company says everything is in place and ready for a ramp up of production, which will mean 250 to 275 new jobs.
Neepawa’s mayor, Ken Waddell, says the expansion of the plant is behind the town’s recent growth – something he hasn’t seen in his lifetime, reports the blog MySteinbach.ca.
The blog says the town’s population could grow by almost a thousand – all thanks to the plant, creating demand for other jobs and services.
The bulk of the new jobs will be on the cutting floor and some throughout other departments, in shipping and maintenance.
Capacity, reports the MeatSite.com, will grow to 28,000 hogs a week from 18,000.
About the company
Hylife does a lot of fresh-chilled export business to Asia, specifically Japan, and some to the U.S. and Mexico. The expansion will give the company more product to supply to its customers.
The company produces all-natural (minimally processed with no preservatives and no artificial ingredients), antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed and hormone-free pork products.
The company first began as Springhill Farms in 1986 and was jointly owned by a group of Hutterite Brethren Colonies. By the beginning of 2008, the company employed 290 people and was processing or selling into the frozen meat market or as fresh carcasses more than 3,000 head per day.
In 2008, Hytek Ltd. acquired Springhill Farms LP and in 2011 changed its name to Hylife. Hylife is headquartered in La Broquerie and is the largest hog production company in Canada and is among the top 15 in North America.
Also in 2011, Springhill Farms re-branded to Hylife Foods as a part of its integrated business model.
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