YAMACHICHE, Quebec — Olymel LP announced the completion of the company’s $120 million ATRAHAN hog slaughtering and processing plant in Yamachiche on April 23.

The project took more than two years to finish after being announced in August 2016 and doubled the area of the pork processing plant that existed. As a result, the new facility will employ more than 1,000 people including 351 workers from a plant owned by Lucyporc nearby. That plant, which produced Nagano pork, will cease operations on April 26.

Olymel also said it plans to add 300 more new jobs to the area when the new processing plant is running at full capacity. An official inauguration ceremony for the new value-added plant will be held later in 2019.

The company also announced that it would be running the plant on two shifts, which will allow employees to familiarize themselves with the facility. Olymel plans to increase the slaughter capacity gradually from 18,000 to 40,000 hogs per week and doubling production volume. The press release also said that 60 percent of production volume would be exported to 50 countries. Production and marketing of value-added and niche products are in the works such as Nagano pork or chilled pork products with a 60-day shelf life.

Olymel stated that the new plant would modernize the production systems using automation of certain operations and implementing high-performance Cryovac vacuum packaging systems.