Surgical mask plant set to open in Selma after two-year delay

A plant that will produce surgical and N95 masks and employ up to 300 workers is set to open in the first three months of 2024, according to a company official.  

The opening will be almost two years later than expected. Jeremy Wootten, CEO of Cullman-based HomTex, told the Selma Sun in April 2022 that the plant would open by the end of that year.  

Wootten said the opening of the plant on Ravenwood Drive in the city’s original industrial park hit some unexpected delays. First, the city of Selma had to repair some water lines leading to the 120,000-square-foot plant. Contractors also encountered issues upgrading the aging building’s sprinkler system and plumbing.  

They knew the building would have issues because it was built in the 1960s and has been abandoned since 2015, he said. But the incentive package HomTex received from the state of Alabama specified the plant must be located in Dallas County, and the former Disco Aluminum facility was the only building in the county big enough to accommodate the mask factory, Wootten said.  

On top of the construction delays, the market for personal protective equipment was flooded by Chinese-made goods after what Wootten described as “panic buying” of personal protective equipment at the height of the COVID pandemic.  

These hurdles have all been cleared, and Wootten said HomTex and the Industrial Development Authority will soon be able to make an official announcement about the opening of the long-awaited HomTex facility.  

Earlier announcement said the plant would employ up to 320 employees making about $17 an hour. Wootten said on Monday he wasn’t ready to announce the number of employees HomTex will employ when the plant opens, but he said employment will “ramp up” over time.  

HomTex Inc. received $10.5 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funds in 2020 to expand its operations to Selma.  

The plant will have a capacity to produce 350 million surgical masks and 20 million N95 masks a year, according to Wootten. Wootten said the U.S. market will be able to use that many masks as the stockpile of Chinese masks dwindles down. Federal law requires government agencies to purchase their masks from U.S. suppliers. Chinese-made masks are cheaper, but the law is designed to encourage the purchase of PPE made in the U.S.A. to get U.S. companies into the PPE market to create jobs and to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign suppliers.  

HomTex, Inc. was founded in 1987 by Jerry Wootten in Vinemont and now has its headquarters in Cullman. In addition to its Vinemont and Cullman locations, HomTex has production and distribution facilities in Sylva, North Carolina; Belton, South Carolina; and Leoma, Tennessee. 

Painters will begin painting the outside of the facility in the next few weeks, and Wootten said the company and local officials will hold job fairs to fill positions before it opens.