Aug. 12--A group of about 60 employees started work at a new Arm & Hammer detergent plant in Jackson Township on July 28 and the plant is on schedule to open by the end of September.

The first group of employees is being trained to make Arm & Hammer and Xtra brands of liquid laundry soap, said Christ Kambesis, senior manager of operations for Church & Dwight, Arm & Hammer's parent company.

He said 50 salary employees have also been hired, and the company will fill another 190 positions by the end of 2009, bringing its number of employees to 300.

The project: The company broke ground in September on the 1.1 million-square-foot building on Commerce Drive. The company has secured temporary occupancy permits, and construction at the 232-acre site is being completed.

The Davies Facility, named after longtime company CEO Robert Davies III, uses geothermal heating and cooling and a solar-powered hot water system.

Company officials have said the manufacturing facility and distribution center will be a green building that uses 30 percent less energy and produces 50 percent less waste than the company's current facility in North Brunswick, N.J.

The company has said the average hourly pay for employees will be about $15 or $16 per hour. More than 4,000 people have applied for the jobs.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.

-----

To see more of The York Dispatch or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.yorkdispatch.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The York Dispatch, Pa.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:CHD,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.