GOOD SAFETY RECORD PROMPTS DEXTER VISIT FROM TYSON'S TOP EXECUTIVE

DEXTER -- A once-in-a-million milestone was cause for celebration Thursday afternoon as Tyson employees and management observed an important landmark at the local poultry plant.

The Dexter Tyson Processing Plant held a celebration to mark the achievement of one million manhours of work without a lost-time accident. On hand for the celebration were the local Tyson employees and management, as well as company Chairman John Tyson of Springdale, Ark.

Tyson and his team from company headquarters traveled to Dexter Thursday morning and made the rounds of all the Dexter plant's facilities during the day. Trying to not to miss a single person, Tyson greeted and shook hands with local employees, seeing first-hand the local complex's operation.

The million-manhour accomplishment is certified using data supplied by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

According to statistics released by the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor, the lost-time rate for all industries combined as 2.9 per 100 workers per year. During the same time period, Tyson's lost-time injury rate was 1.1 per 100, more than two times better than all of industry combined.

"I've been to all of the facilities," Tyson said. "I've been to the feed mill, our hatchery, I've been to Bloomfield and I've walked the plant and tried to shake as many hands as I can. It's just wonderful to get out and see all our people."

Tyson, dressed casually in a khaki Tyson uniform and work boots, is obviously proud of the work record at the Dexter plant.

"Not only do we beat the poultry industry in safety, we beat all other industry by about half. I believe that's a compliment to how people can pitch in and concentrate on safety," he said.

Having worked in the family-owned poultry business since he was 14, Tyson said he tries to remember advice his father and grandfather offered him:

"My granddad and dad have always told me that if you take care of your people first, they said I'll always have a job. It's a very simple philosophy to live by."

The Tyson firm is a relative newcomer to the industrial picture in the Dexter area, having purchased the Hudson poultry operation here in 1998.

However, the company chairman noted that Tyson is not entirely new to the community.

"Believer it or not, we actually owned this facility for about two months back in 1986," he said. "We bought it and then sold it to Hudson Foods, because it did not fit what we needed at that time. And when we bought the Hudson facility in January of 1998, this facility had made a lot of changes."

Tyson noted that the product mix at the local plant has been adjusted to areas that fit into Tyson's customer base.

"What we find here is a plant that is real settled, people know their work and understand their work, and now we have the opportunity for expansion," Tyson said.

The company chairman noted that expansion at the Dexter location might not occur necessarily in the number of birds processed, but in the handling of the product.

"Some of the de-boned meat we now ship off to other locations," he said. "And if we can process that here -- the patties for key customers, chicken nuggets or fajita meat for our commercial customers -- we might do more of that here versus shipping it off to another location."

Tyson said that in addition to bringing new jobs to the local economy, such a move would mean less of a strain on the municipal systems at the local plant. He stated that hopefully the move toward processing more of the de-boned meat would take place within the next three years.

The poultry industry is in a position of strong growth this year, with people throughout the country still eating a lot of chicken. However, he noted the industry is feeling some pressure mainly because of foreign trade barriers. Product that used to be shipped to Russia or Asian countries are now backed up due to financial problems in those parts of the world, Tyson said.

However, Tyson predicted the foreign trade picture will improve.

"The Asian economic situation is getting better and we can see our shipments improving over there," he added. "Overall, I am comfortable about what the industry is doing."

"We will look at the opportunities here (in Dexter)," Tyson said. "The fact that there is plenty of corn here, plenty of soybeans around does lend to the thought process that maybe in the future you could expand your live production."

Tyson processes locally 650,000 birds per week; at most Tyson complexes, 1.3 million birds are processed a week. Tyson said at some point the Dexter plant might be expanded to that capacity. He noted that the ample supply of grain in the area is a positive factor in such a move.

"The folks around here are just great folks," Tyson said. "They understand agriculture and the responsibility to work together to do the right things both for the community and for us. That is just a great partnership."