Ochsner Health and an Alabama company announced two manufacturing facilities in the Broussard region that will manufacture personal protective equipment and employ 1,221.
Officials made the announcement Monday morning along with Gov. John Bel Edwards on the $150 million investment that will include construction of a 400,000-square-foot facility in the Spanish Trail industrial park in St. Martin Parish and retrofitting the 80,000-square-foot former Weatherford International facility in Broussard.
Ochsner has partnered with Alabama-based Trax Development for the project to create SafeSource Direct, which will manufacture, warehouse and directly distribute PPE for health care and other industries in Louisiana and nationwide.
“Today’s announcement is not only a celebration of the new jobs SafeSource Direct will create and the economic activity it will generate, but also an opportunity to thank Ochsner and Trax for an investment that truly meets our novel moment,” Edwards said.
The Broussard facility will house 245 jobs that is expected to pay an average salary of $45,300. It will include the company’s headquarters and will manufacture surgical tie masks, bouffant hair covers, shoe covers, isolation gowns, procedure masks and N95 masks.
The St. Martin Parish location will house 976 jobs and is expected to pay an average salary of $38,000. It will include multiple production lines of PPE manufacturing with nitrile rubber gloves as the main product.