Dumas pet food plant creates 44 new jobs
This article was published June 11, 2010 at 10:05 a.m.
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DUMAS — A Dumas animal feed manufacturer that was heavily damaged in a 2007 tornado is adding several dozen new jobs, officials announced this morning.
Arkat Animal Nutrition, which suffered $19 million in damage in the Feb. 24, 2007 twister, is creating 44 new full-time positions with benefits including microbiologist, technician and manager jobs.
Gov. Mike Beebe and Dumas Mayor Marion Gill helped make the announcement along with local leaders and representatives from DAD’s Pet Care, which bought Arkat in February.
"If you want to see the face of economic development, that's it behind me," Gill said, gesturing toward the facility during an outdoor news conference announcing the new jobs.
The positions are part of a $10 million update to the facilities initiated when DAD's Pet Care acquired the business.
Company officials say they will work to make the new hires as soon as possible. The additions will increase the Dumas workforce by 75 percent.
The tornado destroyed two of the manufacturing buildings on the Dumas campus and severely damaged a third. DAD's Chief Operating Officer Elliott Haverlack said overcoming the storm reflected the "extraordinary passion" of the employees.
And reopening then set the stage for the acquisition by DAD's, which knew when it made the purchase it wanted to expand.
"When we purchased it , it was part of our plan to bring jobs, to invest in the facility, invest in the people, invest in the brands and invest in the community," Haverlack said. "It's really part of our plan."
The 2007 storm packed winds greater than 150 mph, destroying or damaging more than 100 structures in the southeastern Arkansas town. No one in Dumas was killed.
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bdorida says... June 11, 2010 at 3:34 p.m.
It amazes me how easily statistical information can be misconstrued. The whopping 44 jobs the company will create have clearly already gone to white applicants and others living outside of the county. Originally, when the company reopened black employees held a lot of the advertised positions. Now, from inside sources, they have been replaced by "more qualified applicants." With the unemployment rate still unchanged at 7.8 percent for the state of Arkansas, along with at least 3 major manufacturing companies in Dumas still closed, how does 44 jobs create such a significant change in the workforce when the closed companies used to employ upwards to 300 people? Until a larger percentage of the unemployed workforce, i.e. blacks, latino, etc. are put back into FULL TIME positions, the numbers are invalid. Or are we to assume that only "more qualified applicants" make up the workforce? As usual, Dumas needs to get it right. Its great that jobs are coming back to town, but a lot more needs to be done. Apparently, the 2007 tornadoes taught us nothing. Sadly, division still exists and everyone can see its the ill-pulsed mentality of this town that steers us away from progress.
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