If you've purchased and used tissues, paper towels, diapers or feminine products recently, you have probably used a Kimberly-Clark product.
The Texas-based company owns brands including Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Huggies and Kotex.
This week, officials with the City of Yuma, the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation (GYEDC) and the Arizona Commerce Authority announced that Kimberly-Clark is building a new 50,000 square-foot pilot facility in Yuma. Officials say it's a capital investment of more than $100 million.
Officials say the project will create about 50 full-time jobs with competitive pay. The pilot facility is expected to open in 2027.
"It's great that they're here," Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said on Yuma Edition on KOFA Border Radio. "We get the opportunity to be on the forefront of innovation... it's a great demonstration of what Yuma is capable of."
Nicholls said it was about a three-year process for the City of Yuma, GYEDC and the
Arizona Commerce Authority to work with Kimberly-Clark. The mayor added that this is phase 1 for the company in Yuma and they may decide to add future investments in Yuma.
In a released statement, Sandra Watson, the president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Commerce Authority said the Kimberly-Clark pilot facility will use a new alternative natural fiber.
The Yuma Kimberly-Clark facility will "extract useful fibers from hesperaloe, a low-water-use and rapdily renewable plant native to Arizona and elsewhere (in) the Southwest United States, which have the potential to be used in the company's future hygiene products."
Officials said the new Kimberly-Clark Yuma pilot facility's focus on natural fibers fits perfectly with the company's global sustainability goals.
In a statement, Michael Todd, vice president and managing director of Kimberly-Clark said "Yuma offers a unique combination of agricultural expertise, natural resources and talent that make it an ideal location for our alternative natural fiber facility."
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Stay tuned to KAWC for any updates on this Kimberly-Clark facility in Yuma as we receive them, including possible future job listings.
