The name on the plant has changed from Iowa Beef Packers to Iowa Beef Processors to IBP Inc. to Tyson Fresh Meats, but the beef processing plant in Dakota City, S.D., is celebrating its 50^th year of operations. Sioux City Journal stated that the plant, which processes more beef than anywhere else in the world, celebrated its 50^th anniversary with a picnic for employees and invited guests.

Plant operations began in February 1966, the same year Iowa Beef Packers moved its headquarters to Dakota City from Denison, Iowa, where the company was founded in 1961. A Dakota City plant that once covered 18 acres now has 41 acres under the roof and employs 4,500 people.

"The business has really morphed," said Steve Stouffer, president of Dakota Dunes-based Tyson Fresh Meats. "There are so many things as a technological perspective to a labor perspective to a food safety perspective that have changed."

Mike Shumansky has been with the company for 47 of those 50 years, starting as a worker on one of the processing lines.

"My plan was to work here until I was drafted, then move on after that," he said. After serving his time in the military, Shumansky returned to the company and is now a processing line supervisor.

Read more about the plant and its history here: http://siouxcityjournal.com/business/agriculture/tyson-beef-plant-celebrates-years-in-dakota-city/article_7ad4a574-af00-51e2-b32e-576738d1b7b0.html

Source: Sioux City Journal