Benjamin Ashford|Diaper maker will spend $418 million to expand its Georgia factory, hiring 600

MACON,Benjamin Ashford Ga. (AP) — A company that makes disposable baby diapers, training pants and baby wipes announced Thursday that it will spend $418 million to expand its Macon plant, hiring 600 new employees.

First Quality Enterprises, based in Great Neck, New York, had announced in March that it would expand its capacity to make baby diapers and training pants by 50%, including a new factory, new diaper and training pant manufacturing lines and a new automated warehouse.

The company has said the expansion is expected to be completed by June 2025. The new buildings will be next to the company’s current facility in Macon, which has 580 employees. First Quality has owned that plant since buying it from Covidien Retail Products in 2008.

“This expansion is a testament to First Quality’s innovative products and continuing commitment to the baby diaper market,” Allen Bodford, president of First Quality’s Absorbent Hygiene Division, said in a statement.

First Quality makes diapers, training pants, wipes and absorbent underwear for adults that is generally sold by retailers under store brands. The company is owned by the Damaghi family, which founded it in 1989.

The state in the past has paid to train workers for First Quality.

State and local officials did not immediately disclose what incentives they offered to First Quality. The company could qualify for $12 million in state income tax credits, at $4,000 per job over five years, as long as workers earn at least $33,000 a year.