Sara Lee Corp. is bringing more than just a new meat-slicing plant to Kansas City, Kan. It’s also bringing some much-needed jobs to the area.
During a grand-opening ceremony on June 2, Sara Lee officially celebrated its new 200,000-square-foot facility in Kansas City. The meat-slicing plant will bring 255 new jobs to the area.
According to Sara Lee, the company pumped more than $140 million to purchase and renovate the plant, which formerly housed ConAgra Foods. Part of this money also went to the purchase of new meat-slicing equipment.
Under an agreement with the government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Sara Lee must hire county residents for at least 55 percent of the new jobs at the facility.
“We are proud to celebrate our new Kansas City facility and showcase the state-of-the-art features that make it an industry leader in processing,” said CJ Fraleigh, chief executive officer of Sara Lee North America, in a written statement.
The new facility relies on robotic systems to provide no-touch processing all the way from the initial raw-meat phase through the finished product.
