By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH

Indiana Correspondent

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Walmart expects to open a new milk processing plant in southern Allen County in early 2018, according to a company spokeswoman.

When the 250,000 square-foot facility was announced in March 2016, Walmart officials said they expected the plant to be in operation by this summer. “As you can imagine, with any large-scale construction project, there are several moving parts which can impact the schedule,” said Anne Hatfield, director of communications for Walmart Public Affairs.

She didn’t go into detail about what specifically caused the delay.

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) was responsible for approving Walmart’s plans for the building, equipment and processing. Included were plans for raw milk receiving and storage, ingredients storage and packaging and supplies.

Delays are not out of the ordinary for a job this size, noted Patrick Hash, director of BOAH’s dairy division. Normal construction issues and weather delays have contributed to the new timeline. The delay was not related to any significant regulatory issue, he said.

The facility is expected to produce whole, 2 percent, 1 percent and skim white milk and 1 percent chocolate milk to be sold under the Great Value label for Walmart and Member’s Mark for Sam’s Club. The milk will be distributed to 600 stores in Illinois, Indiana, northern Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.

When Walmart made its announcement, the company said the plant would create more than 200 “good-paying jobs” ranging from transportation to milk processing. At the time, a company spokesman said the plant would be the retailer’s first food processing facility in the United States.

The spokesman said the plant should accept about 50 deliveries of raw milk and have about 70 outbound trucks daily.