Meat+Poultry - February 2024 - 17

Smithfield's Kinston, NC, prepared foods plant focuses
on meeting consumer demand for convenience
BY ERICA SHAFFER | eshaf fer@sos land.com
K
inston, NC, has been home to a
Smithfield Foods pork processing plant
since 1979. David Hoffman, who recently
was promoted to plant manager of the current
prepared foods facility, was born and raised
in Kinston. So, Smithfield has had a long-time
presence in his community and eventually
became the starting place for his career in the
pork processing industry.
Hoffman went to work at the original
Smithfield plant in Kinston in 1991 and spent
most of his career in operations - 15 years as
a supervisor.
" I'm one of the folks that went to work on
the floor as an hourly [worker], " he said. " I
got an opportunity to be a crew leader; I got
an opportunity to be a plant supervisor, and it
grew from there. "
Then, in 2005 Smithfield committed to
building a second facility in Kinston about five
miles from the original plant. Hoffman got the
rare chance to be part of building a new plant.
" It was a great opportunity for me, " he
said. " I was excited about it. If you ever hear it
called K2, that's why, because the original plant
was K1 - Kinston one. And then when we had
both plants, you would meet someone on the
street and they would say, 'well, do you work
at K1 or K2?'
" So, I started my career here at K2 or the
current Kinston plant in 2006 and was able to
see it get built, which was exciting. "
The original Kinston plant, K1, operated
until 2008. And Hoffman continued working
his way up through the ranks taking positions
of increasing responsibility, including
superintendent. He spent 10 years in research
and development at Smithfield. New roles
within the company took him away from the
Kinston facility, but not the town.
" I lived in Kinston the whole time, " he
said. " I traveled to pretty much every plant
in the company and worked in research and
development. I spent one year, in 2020, in what
we call continuous improvement, building a
team there. And then I got the opportunity to
be a plant manager at Wilson in North Carolina,
which is about 45 minutes from Kinston. So,
with my investment in Kinston, I never moved
my family. My youngest son is in high school. "
And when Curtis Drimmel, the previous
plant manager at Kinston, was promoted to
senior director of production engineering for
Smithfield, Hoffman applied.
" I said, 'Hey, my roots are in Kinston. I'm
ingrained in that community.' Smithfield has
invested in me, and I wanted to make sure I
give back to Smithfield and my community as a
plant manager. "
PREPARED FOODS FOCUS
The Kinston facility that was built in 2006
spanned 230,000 square feet and was outfitted
to process boneless hams into lunch meat and
cook-in-bag products.
In 2011, former North Carolina Governor
Bev Perdue announced the Kinston expansion.
The facility, at the time forecast to cost $85
million to build, would assume production of
hot dogs and lunch meats from Smithfield's
Portsmouth, Va., facility which the company
said it would shutter.
Smithfield doubled the size of the
manufacturing floor with lines for hot dogs and
bone-in hams. A prepared foods line was added
in 2020, and the employee ranks grew to 900.
Today, plant capacity at the Kinston
prepared foods facility ranges between 250
million lbs and 300 million lbs and items
produced include bone-in hams, cook-inbag,
franks and prepared foods like Nathan's
Famous Pretzel Dogs and Carando brand
Rip-n-Dips.
Feeding the demands of the Kinston plant
is Smithfield's Tar Heel fresh pork processing
plant. A two-hour drive away, Tar Heel is
recognized as the largest pork processing plant
in the world covering 985,000 square feet.
" We want
to get the
President's
Award for the
safest plant
out there. "
- DAVID HOFFMAN
Hanging hams on the meat
tree is one of the more
demanding tasks at the
Kinston facility. Smithfield
constantly rotates workers
through the task to prevent
injuries and fatigue.
www.meatpoultry.com | 02.24 | MEAT+POULTRY
17
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat+Poultry - February 2024
