A packaging manufacturer plans to expand in McDowell County and add 124 jobs over the next 18 months, Gov. Bev Perdue's office announced today.

RockTenn makes packaging products for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and other industries. The company will expand into a new facility in Marion, about 215 miles west of Raleigh.

The company will receive an incentives grant from the One North Carolina fund worth as much as $372,000 if it meets hiring and investment targets. The grant also requires matching local incentives.

RockTenn now employs 233 workers in McDowell County and more then 1,000 across North Carolina.

The new jobs will pay average annual salaries of $33,023. That higher than the McDowell County average of $29,224.