Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin joined executives from Procter & Gamble to break ground at the company's new $500 million facility in the Eastern Panhandle.
"Today is a historic day for West Virginia, and this investment represents one of the largest initial economic development projects in our state's history," Gov. Tomblin said. "We're grateful to the folks at P&G who came to West Virginia and saw great potential for the future of the company here with our well-trained workforce and strong business climate. We're honored to welcome them to our family and look forward to our continued partnership."
The company announced it will begin taking applications for jobs at the plant October 1, 2015, through its online hiring portal, www.pgcareers.com. The company expects to hire its first employees in the summer of 2016. The plant, to be located in Tabler Station in Berkeley County, will employ 300 full-time P&G employees when it opens in 2017 and ramp up to 700 by the time it is fully operational in 2019.
"These are good-paying jobs with great benefits," Governor Tomblin said. "And P&G is a world-class company that's committed to hiring skilled West Virginia workers. Through a partnership with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, P&G is working hard to train its new employees and provide them with the skills they need to succeed in today's jobs and those that will be available well into the future."
The company is seeking employees with skills in mechanical, electrical and programming fields, manufacturing, production, packaging operations, and equipment and machinery operations. P&G is working with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College on a training program that prepares students to work specifically at the Tabler Station plant.
P&G offers its employees a full package of benefits that include paid holidays and vacation, life and disability insurance, medical and dental insurance, 401(k) savings plan, and profit sharing.
Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette and his team at the West Virginia Development Office worked closely with P&G through the site selection process.
"If there was any doubt that West Virginia is a great place to do business, today's groundbreaking ought to put it to rest," Burdette said. "To have a top-tier company like P&G choose us for its second U.S. plant in 44 years tells you just how far this administration has come in improving our business climate and workforce. It's a landmark event for the state."
P&G began the site selection process with a list of 70 possible locations. Senior company officials personally visited the four finalists and made West Virginia their top choice in late 2014. P&G said four factors made West Virginia the most attractive location: the local labor force, proximity to East Coast population centers, infrastructure, and low business costs.
The construction period will take about two years and will focus on facilities and utilities on the 458-acre site. It is expected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs. Fluor Corporation will be the general contractor.
The Tabler Station plant will manufacture products in different categories at a single site as part of a supply chain network redesign, enabling it to respond more quickly to demand from retail customers. The company recently opened new distribution centers in Shippensburg, Pa., Dayton, Ohio, and Atlanta, Ga., -all close enough for convenient truck transport from West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
This is only the second new manufacturing facility P&G has built in the United States since 1971 and will employ the fifth largest P&G workforce in the U.S. The company has 26 U.S. plants located in 20 states and employs about 11,000 U.S. manufacturing workers. Globally, the company has 130 plants in 40 countries.