Hytrol Conveyor, Inc., headquartered in Jonesboro, will expand their product line in Fort Smith, adding 100 manufacturing jobs to the area.
Hytrol designs and supplies customers with conveyor systems, helpful for companies who move heavy material. Hytrol’s main customers are Amazon, UPS and FedEx.
To expand their product line, Hytrol will invest $3.3 million into the local facility. The company is leasing the east side of what was the Whirlpool building on Jenny Lind Road. They have 312,000 square feet of production space.
Earlier this year, the company moved their parcel line to Fort Smith and that brought in 250 jobs. The company now employs 350 Fort Smith residents with a starting pay at $16 an hour.
Bentley Story, director of business development at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), said Hytrol will use the Create Rebate and training funds from the state to help with their expansion. The training funds from the state will help Hytrol offset costs related to training their workforce.
Unemployment rate in Arkansas:Arkansas’ unemployment rate falls to 4.3%, employment in manufacturing rises
Job market:Fort Smith job market continues to surge leaving employers looking for workers
Bentley said the Create Rebate gives companies a rebate for each full-time employee added to their payroll. The amount a company receives for each rebate is 3.9% of the taxable wages of each new employee they add to their payroll. Story said how much the company received won’t be known until the company files their taxes and are audited by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. According to their website, the AEDC said the Create Rebate is a way to incentivize job creation in the state.
In a press release, the company said the success they had moving their parcel production to Fort Smith made them want to expand their product line here.
Phillip Poston, director of Fort Smith operations for Hytrol, cited the rise in e-commerce as creating a demand for conveyor supplies. In their January 2021 report, Markets and Markets research group found the global conveyor belt system was valued at $8.8 billion in 2020 and will rise to $10.6 billion by 2025.
Poston said conveyor companies play a large role in e-commerce.
“From the minute you hit submit on that (online order) until it shows up at your door, we’re involved in about 75% of making that happen,” Poston said.
Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, is trying to get into the e-commerce market. Poston said it would be nice to have the opportunity to work with an Arkansas company but integration partners, which are a third party that represents manufacturers, will decide whether Walmart does business with Hytrol.
U.S Rep. Steve Womack said Hytrol is a remarkable industrial startup.
“Here is a company located in Arkansas, producing a product that is going to be used across the nation and probably around the world that is such an integral part of the supply chain, but often an overlooked part of the supply chain,” Womack said.
Womack believes the pandemic showed the importance of having supply chains in the U.S.
“In the areas of essential goods that an economy needs and the pandemic taught us a lot, particularly in the area of PPE and other really important products you’ve got to have if you’re going to battle a pandemic,” Womack said. “I’m sitting here today holding a mask that is made in Rogers, Arkansas, but it wasn’t made in Rogers, Arkansas until this year.”
Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute, said disruptions in the supply chain caused by COVID-19 led to manufacturing jobs coming back to the U.S.
Mike Preston, secretary of commerce, said the state has benefited from companies returning.
Preston said Arkansas’s location makes it attractive for manufacturers.
“Our transportation infrastructure network that we have through the river or rail system and our highways connect so many points of the country in a short amount of time that really helps us in a supply chain issue. Manufacturing is dependent upon the supply chain,” Preston said.
Preston also credited Arkansas’ workforce as a reason for manufacturers choosing Arkansas.
“We have the sixth-highest percentage of our workforce engaged in manufacturing, so we have a workforce who understands and knows manufacturing. We still build things in Arkansas, that is something we are very proud of,” Preston said. “Our workforce is always kind of our ace in the hole whenever we need it against a competitor.”
Pakko said time will tell whether manufacturing jobs state in the states or if they are outsourced again once the pandemic is over.
Preston believes it is too early to say whether firms will stay.
“I would think they’re going to be here for a while because a lot of these companies are coming in and making multimillion-dollar investments and you don’t make that kind of investment and then pack up and leave when the pandemic is over,” Preston said. “When you make that significant capital investment, it usually means you’re going to be there for a while. That is why we like manufacturers who come in because they do invest a lot not only in their buildings but their equipment and the workforce.”
 |
