One of Mountain Home's two largest employers, Baxter International Inc., said Thursday that it's adding 225 full-time employees to its existing workforce of more than 1,000.
The diversified health care company provides disposable renal and other medical devices to a worldwide distribution network and plans to phase in the new employees over the next five years, according to a release from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
The distinction of being the town's largest employer teeters between Baxter International and Baxter Regional Medical Center, said Bo Gregory, director of Economic Development for the Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce. Baxter International has been in Mountain Home for more than 50 years.
"They are an institution in the community, as far as industry goes," Gregory said.
Jeff Gunn, plant manager at Baxter's 550,000-square-foot plant, declined to say what the jobs would pay but said there would be three types of positions filled: production technicians, who run automated production equipment; assistant supervisors, who lead the production lines; and assemblers, those who work directly with materials, either with transport or assembly.
Gunn said an increase in the market is what warranted the uptick in production. One in 10 people incur some type of renal failure and end up on dialysis, he said.
"With the aging population, we're seeing more and more people needing dialysis. And if you do home dialysis, you need our products," Gunn said.
The Mountain Home plant is one of Baxter's three largest in the United States. Comparable facilities are in Cleveland, Miss., and Marion, N.C.
Many of Baxter's employees live in Mountain Home, where Arkansas State University-Mountain Home has a curriculum in mechatronics that fits the training needs of the company. Mechatronics is a discipline that blends a variety of engineering fields in regard to product design and manufacturing, and the school's program also helps train existing workers.
Arkansas Economic Development Commission Executive Director Mike Preston and Gov. Asa Hutchinson were on hand for the announcement in Mountain Home on Thursday. From there they headed to Melbourne in Izard County, where Micro Plastics announced a new $2.4 million facility and the addition of 79 new jobs over five years.
Micro Plastics, which makes nylon screws, landed in Flippin 40 years ago and employs some 390 people at its headquarters and manufacturing plant in that Marion County town. Production on the new, additional facility, which will be in Melbourne, is set to begin in the first quarter of 2016.
Since taking the helm of development commission in April, Preston has touted economic development in the rural areas of the state, and Thursday's announcements line up with his commitment.
"A lot of it is momentum," Preston said. "When consultants from around the country see what's going on here, they take note."
Excitement created by the announcements was palpable in the crowds gathered in both towns, he said.
"People understand what a significant, substantial impact these jobs will have in the community for a long time to come," he said.
Business on 10/16/2015