Tyson Decides Against Rebuilding Fire-Damaged Heflin Plant

09/01/07 Tyson Foods, Inc. will not rebuild its fire-damaged poultry plant in Heflin, Alabama, company officials have reported. Instead, the company will continue to consider other options, such as expanding an existing plant or building a new plant at or near another Tyson location in the state.

The company’s Heflin facility has been closed since September 2006, when the production area was extensively damaged by fire. The plant, which employed 267 people, was not in operation at the time and no one was hurt. A Tyson operations and engineering team subsequently considered whether to rebuild the facility, but recommended against it.

“It’s difficult for us to leave Heflin, especially given the tremendous support we’ve received from the community over the years,” said Bill Lovette, senior group vice president of Poultry and Prepared Foods for Tyson. “However, we’ve concluded some of our other plant locations are better suited for the possible construction of a new plant or a plant expansion, should we decide to proceed with such a project. We hope to make a final decision in the first half of calendar 2007.”

Tyson’s other Alabama plants are located in Albertville, Ashland, Blountsville and Gadsden, providing employment to approximately 3,300 people in state.

The Heflin plant has been part of Tyson Foods since 1986 and was processing approximately one million birds per week before the fire. The damaged portion of the facility will now be cleaned up; however, the future of the property has not been determined.

Most of the workers displaced by the Heflin fire accepted positions at other Tyson locations in Alabama. The company plans to continue working with most of the contract poultry producers who had been raising chickens for the Heflin operation by having them supply birds for other Tyson plants.