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Macon will be even more of a mecca for consumer goods with the news that First Quality Baby Products will invest $418 million in an expansion that will produce 600 new jobs for Middle Georgia.
The New York-based company is boosting its overall capacity for baby diapers and training pants by 50 percent — and doubling down on a location it has held for more than 15 years, according to a news release from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.
First Quality got the factory adjacent to Middle Georgia Regional Airport in 2008 when it acquired the retail products division of Covidien, a Bermuda-based firm that later moved its headquarters to Ireland before the broader company was purchased by Medtronic.
In 2010, First Quality said it would invest up to $200 million to modernize the plant and hire up to 375 people; another $68 million expansion followed in 2015 with another 115 promised jobs. Now the company counts 580 employees in Macon and will more than double that headcount if it reaches its job commitments.
This latest project comes on top of Macon investments by Canada’s Irving Consumer Products totaling more than $800 million in the last few years. First Quality has one Canada facility in Quebec. The new factory is to be located next to the existing plant at 2108 Avondale Mill Road in Macon.
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