The plant has 1,100 employees and could double to 2,200 within a couple of years. Plant production Maple Leaf is producing on a single shift, with a 45,000-hog weekly capacity. The line capacity is 1,250 hogs per hour. The plant has ramped up very well, hitting line speeds within seven months. We're anxious to get the supply settled and continue on.
Wood says a short-term dip in the availability of market hogs in Manitoba has affected the plant.
The fact that it's deeper than normal has caught us all by surprise. One of the early goals of Maple Leaf was to repatriate about 2 million hogs that had been shipped from Canada south to South Dakota and Nebraska plants. However, Wood says he doesn't know to what extent that goal has been accomplished. The company plans to put in a second shift, doubling the capacity to 90,000 per week, but that's maybe two years away, depending on availability of pigs. There still are a fair amount of weanlings exported to the United States, as well market hogs.