Management at Flagstaff’s Purina Plant says they’re doing their part to keep people out of the local unemployment lines. The facility is owned by Nestle-Purina and a recent expansion has resulted in more employees being hired and additional products being manufactured.

Plant Manager Bill Calloway says they employ 233 people in Flagstaff, up from 150 employees six years ago.

The newly completed expansion was necessary to store the products being manufactured in Flagstaff.

“$40 million was invested allowing us to increase our production by one-fifth,” said Calloway. “In order to increase our production capacity we had to increase our storage capacity,” he added.

The 93,000-square-foot expansion was started in 2007, creating much more storage said Calloway. A different project completed in 2003 added 120,000 square feet to the warehouse. The City of Flagstaff supported Nestle-Purina’s plans to expand through a GPLET agreement. Calloway describes the government property lease excise tax as a program to entice businesses to invest by maintaining a certain level of property tax.

The GPLET agreement was a good idea in this case, said Becky Daggett, Flagstaff’s Business Retention and Expansion Manager. “It allowed Purina to remain in Flagstaff, invest in a significant expansion, keep existing jobs and hire new employees,” said Daggett.

Calloway describes people who work at Nestle-Purina’s Flagstaff plant as well-paid. He said the full benefits package includes a 401K and pension plan, health benefits and vacation.

“The entry level wage is $17.54 an hour and roughly 35 percent more in benefits,” he said.

The Flagstaff Purina plant provides pet food for Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and parts of northern Mexico. The company uses rail for inbound bulk ingredients like corn and wheat and ships products from Flagstaff by highway.

The top item manufactured at the Flagstaff Purina plant is the Dog Chow brand. But the recently completed expansion allows production of other items including the Purina Fit and Trim brand Healthy Weight Adult Dog Food and Kit & Kaboodle brand cat food, which used to be imported from sister facilities. There are seven facilities throughout the United States similar to the Flagstaff plant.

Flagstaff Purina began operations 34 years ago this month. The company was purchased by Nestle in 2001. Calloway, who has been with Purina 33 years, calls the purchase a positive thing for Purina and Flagstaff. He says Nestle has 500 manufacturing facilities around the world and the company has been able to finance the growth of production in Flagstaff.

Of the many expansions and major capital investments Calloway has witnessed, he describes the just completed construction process as unequivocally the smoothest. He credits Haskell, the general contractor, and the many other people hired for the job that were able to complete the project three months ahead of schedule.