Indianastate officials sayTyson Foods, Inc. will expand its Corydon, Ind., chicken processing facility and relocate deboning lines from other Arkansas and Missouri operations to the Indiana plant.

Officials say the $626 million project -- involving both new equipment purchases and relocation expenses -- will be completed next year and create 78 new jobs.

A 130,000-square-foot operation, Corydon employs 650 workers and produces more than 127 million pounds of fried, marinated and rotisserie chicken per year for grocery store delis.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance plant efficiencies, we're making some operational changes that will involve more jobs.  Instead of continuing to ship certain cuts of chicken to outside plants in other states for deboning we've decided to do the work right here in Indiana," said David Whittington, complex manager for Tyson Foods. "This means the installation of new equipment at the Corydon facility and the addition of 78 new jobs.  We are now starting to ramp up the new production line and anticipate full production by early December.  We believe Indiana is a great place to do business and we are excited to be expanding during such challenging economic times."  

Indiana Economic Development Corporationsaid it offered Tyson Foods up to $160,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans.  The Harrison County Economic Development Corporation will provide Tyson Foods an additional $50,000 toward workforce training and other expenses to assist with the expansion.

"Harrison County has experienced job losses from the automotive and woodworking sectors in recent years so the Tyson expansion will provide a much needed boost to our local economy.  It is also important to note that the quality partnership between the IEDC and the Harrison County community has given Tyson the confidence needed to make this investment," said Darrell Voelker, Harrison County Economic Development Corporation director.