Material handling equipment provider Hytrol Conveyor Company Inc. will locate its second manufacturing facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas, citing community support, the local workforce, and the availability of a suitable facility, the company said.
The $20 million project comes in response to rapid global growth in e-commerce, placing growing demands on Hytrol and the material handling industry as a whole to boost the production of parcel equipment.
Jonesboro, Ark.-based Hytrol had announced in October that it would seek a secondary location to manufacture its parcel product line. “After casting a very wide net that covered 13 different states we landed right back home in Arkansas. That’s appropriate because the state deserves a lot of credit for our success,” Hytrol President David Peacock said in a release.
The facility will create 250 new jobs in the Fort Smith area and will begin hiring in the coming weeks, followed by additional waves of hiring in coming years.
“There are a lot of companies that can make equipment, but there is only one Hytrol. I am truly excited to see how the combination of Hytrol and Fort Smith can shine in Western Arkansas while serving our integration partners and customers around the world,” Phillip Poston, the director of site operations for the new location, said in a release.
