A chain-link fence surrounding the future Carpenter Technology Corporation facility in southern Limestone County features a rendering of how the finished product will look. The company has posted 14 chemist and laboratory positions and received interest from nearly 900 applicants.

The opening of a new specialty alloy manufacturing facility in southern Limestone County is still more than a year and a half away, but Carpenter Technology Corporation is already hiring full-time employees.

Jim America, CTC’s executive advisor for human resources for the Limestone project, said the company received nearly 900 applications for 14 jobs posted for chemist and laboratory positions. Out of that large number of interested parties, CTC has hired eight people for a startup crew.

America said the overwhelming interest in the positions is likely owed to a combination of a sluggish economy and excitement about the $500 million project and the company.

“(Carpenter) has a very strong brand and people are excited about this type of company in the Athens and Decatur area,” he said. “It has piqued a lot of interest.”

At full production, the facility will employ 200 to 250 permanent workers. CTC is also expected to hire contract workers, but he did not know how many.

Employees who will work in the laboratory positions are ones who have a background in material science, a college degree in metallurgy or who have experience working around metals and alloys. The lab will be up and running about a year before the plant’s start date of spring 2014.

The eight employees who have secured positions at the Limestone facility will now train for six months at a CTC location in Reading, Pa. One of those making the trip will be Cynthia Newton, who has been living in Manchester, Conn., for the past six years.

Newton hails from Huntsville originally, and had been looking for a means to return to North Alabama and her family. The Chemist II position with Carpenter has given her a chance to make that happen.

“I’m looking forward to going back,” she said. “The work is similar to what I’ve been doing in Connecticut, working for a metal alloying company and setting up methods and maintaining the instruments. The position in Alabama will allow me to continue to do what I’ve been doing in my career, just 20 miles from home.”

Newton said few foundry jobs exist in Alabama, so when she saw the CTC posting, she jumped at the chance.

“It’s good we’re having this industry come to Alabama,” she said. “It’s a good development for the area and I’m excited about working there.”

Athens native Greg Easterling, another CTC hire, was expected to leave today for his six-month training session in Reading. He previously worked for 13 years as a NASA contractor, but cutbacks in the space industry led him to consider a new line of work.

After seeing a chemist position posted, he researched Carpenter and liked what he found.

“There were a lot of good, positive comments from employees who already worked there,” he said. “That encouraged me, and as I talked to them, I got a really good feeling about them.”

Likewise, America said CTC has a good feeling about the highly skilled workers in North Alabama and beyond. Additional hiring for the company will be completed in three phases, the first of which will begin in November.

“Our commitment is to hire from the area,” he said, adding there was not a specific target number of local hires. “The quality of the workforce we’re going to draw on in North Alabama is very high quality.”

He said North Alabama has not only a large amount of engineering talent, but a combination of Calhoun Community College and Alabama Industrial Development Training could also provide CTC a pool of maintenance technicians for the facility.

“Those resources will be very valuable to us,” America said.

The key piece of equipment for the Limestone location — a German-made forge — is expected to be delivered in three installments next April via barge transport up the Tennessee River. CTC spokesman William J. Rudolph said the delivery date remains on target.

“It will be quite interesting when that happens,” he said. “We’re very excited to see how the whole process works.”