Baxter International To Add 225 Jobs At Mountain Home Factory

by Talk Business and Politics ([email protected]) 237 views 

There will be 225 additional job openings at Baxter International’s Mountain Home manufacturing facility.

On Thursday (Oct. 15), Baxter International announced it would expand its north central Arkansas operations to add a factory line to produce disposable medical devices.

The 225 new jobs will be full-time and will be added over the next five years, according to the company.

“Baxter’s expansion in Mountain Home will help increase production of components for disposable medical devices spanning our portfolio of life-saving and life-sustaining products,” said Tony Johnson, VP of operations for Baxter in the U.S. and Canada. “In addition to supporting increased global production of these medically necessary products, the expansion is an investment in a community in which Baxter employees have lived and worked for more than 50 years.”

Following are the state incentives tied to the Baxter expansion.
• The “Create Rebate” program provides a cash rebate based on payroll of new jobs. Rebate will equal 3.9% of payroll associated with the new jobs. The Create Rebate agreement is for seven years.

• $2.3 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for training, equipment and electrical upgrades

• The “Tax Back” program provides sales tax refunds on building materials, taxable machinery and equipment associated with the expansion project.

• $210,000 in workforce training funds

Baxter International opened its Mountain Home facility in 1964 and employs approximately 1,000 workers. It is one of the company’s largest plastics and medical device manufacturing plants with more than 550,000 square feet.

“There is tremendous opportunity for growth in the healthcare industry,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson. “It’s great to know that Mountain Home is proven to have a business climate and workforce to meet the needs of Baxter. The medical products manufactured here in Arkansas go a long way toward improving the lives of people throughout the U.S. and the world.”

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Baxter International employs roughly 50,000 workers worldwide and provides its products and services globally in more than 100 countries, according to the company’s web site.