Wipes-maker adding 300 jobs with Jonesboro plant expansion
A global manufacturer of disinfecting wipes announced Monday that it will invest $50 million and create 300 new jobs by expanding its Jonesboro facility through 2021.
Nice-Pak, the leading global producer of Wet Wipes, plans to double manufacturing capacity at its Jonesboro plant. The company will upgrade existing production and add a new line next year in its 1 million-square-foot facility.
“We’ve already added over 100 jobs this year, and we’re adding more,” Nice-Pak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Julius said in announcing the expansion.
The coronavirus pandemic has fueled demand for the company’s disinfecting wipes, leading the Jonesboro plant to operate around the clock.
As production ramped up this year, the company also began hiring local workers and projects it will have added 130 new workers by the end of the year. The company has about 550 employees in Jonesboro, a spokesman said.
On Monday, the company said it would add a new manufacturing line and hire 176 more workers by next summer. Expansion will begin in January and should be completed by August, the company said.
“Our products are essential for consumers to help stay healthy and well amid the covid-19 pandemic,” Julius added. “We have been working nonstop to produce more wipes than ever before, and we commend the tremendous performance of our Jonesboro associates, who have been terrific in rising to the challenge.”
The expansion is expected to more than double the company’s ability to produce disinfecting wipes and sig
nificantly increase capacity for other product groups. In addition to Wet Wipes, the company produces wipes for babies and toddlers, facial wipes and flushable wipes.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson applauded the company for its commitment to Jonesboro, saying the expansion “showcases Arkansas as a place to do business.”
Moreover, the governor said the expansion highlights the state’s ongoing economic development efforts even as the pandemic rages.
“While we’re going through covid, and that takes a lot of time,” Hutchinson added, “we’re concentrating on economic development and assisting our existing industry here in our state so we can continue to provide jobs into the future.”
Nice-Pak, a family-owned operation based in Orangeburg, N.Y., opened its Jonesboro manufacturing facility in 2010.
On its website, the company says it is a national leader in “creating wipes for just about anything that requires cleaning, sanitizing or disinfecting.”
The company says it created the wet napkin product and its first national customer was Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Nice-Pak said it pitched KFC’s founder Colonel Harlan Sanders on using wet wipes as an alternative to the restaurant’s “finger licking good” approach.
And Nice-Pak says it is continuing to develop innovative products through a 28,000-square-foot research and development center it operates with 60 employees in Montvale, N.J.
The pandemic, though, has brought business to a whole new level. Through its sister company, PDI Healthcare, the firm also is a leading provider of disinfecting wipes to the food service and health care industries, Julius said.
“Our products are critical to protecting … our first responders,” he said. “And they are keeping all of us healthy and well as we face this oncein-a-lifetime pandemic.”
Nice-Pak’s chief executive said Arkansas is an ideal location for the expansion. “None of this would have been possible without the great culture and values we see here in the local community and in the state,” Julius added.
Local officials praised the company for its commitment to northeast Arkansas and for its ability to respond effectively to the covid-19 crisis.
“The way Nice-Pak adapted to current economic pressures caused by the pandemic, increased production and hired more people is the definition of an essential business,” Mark Young, president of Jonesboro Unlimited, said in a statement. “We take a lot of pride in NicePak being part of Jonesboro.”
The Jonesboro facility also includes distribution operations. A spokesperson said though there are no current plans to add more space, the company is evaluating the need to expand its facility going forward.
“From day one, Nice-Pak has continually fulfilled its commitment to Jonesboro by bringing good-paying jobs to our city,” Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin said in a statement. “This new expansion is the latest chapter in Nice-Pak’s growing presence in Jonesboro. We are confident that Nice-Pak and Jonesboro will continue to grow together.”
Arkansas is offering the company a 3.9% tax incentive for seven years under the create rebate program. The initiative offers an annual cash rebate based on the number of net new jobs at the plant.
Nice-Pak also operates a manufacturing facility in Mooresville, Ind., and at two sites in the United Kingdom and another in Germany. Distribution operations are in Plainfield, Ind., and West Nyack, N.Y. The company has a total of 2,850 employees in its global operations.
The company touts its environmental sustainability efforts, including reducing its reliance on plastics, using water and energy more efficiently in the manufacturing process and reducing greenhouse emissions. Nice-Pak has targeted the Jonesboro facility to obtain zero-landfill status.