QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There’s more complexity in the vehicles, more technology in the vehicles.There’s better data and a better ability to very quickly identify issues. Everybody is generally reacting - certainly, we do - as soon as we find a problem.”
Bob Shanks, Ford Motor Co. chief financial officer on the automaker’s rising recall expenses.
Article, 1D
Aeronautics firm gets environmental nod
Pratt & Whitney, the Springdale aeronautics repair facility in Springdale, was awarded Friday the 2014 Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award, given by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
This was the third consecutive year for Pratt & Whitney to be nominated for the “ENVY Award,” presented since 2005 to recognize individuals or organizations making significant contributions to enhance and to protect the state’s natural resources. Pratt & Whitney’s pollution-prevention program was launched in 2011, emphasizing the company’s efforts to reduce manufacturing waste and to recycle materials while cutting down on greenhouse-gas emissions.
Pratt & Whitney, which reports $50 million to $60 million in sales annually, was one of six finalists for the award. The company’s pollution prevention program helped divert 27 tons of waste from landfills, and all plastics used in manufacturing are recycled. Last year the company reported an 11 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and a 41 percent cut on waste.
Other finalists included: the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program; the Arkansas Wildlife Federation; Fayetteville, in partnership with the Watershed Resource Conservation Center; Goodwill Industries of Arkansas; and the Illinois River Watershed.
Wal-Mart names new CEO of Asia office
Scott Price, CEO of Wal-Mart’s Asia division, will step down in June to lead the retailer’s international real estate, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions in the company’s international business segment. Wal-Mart China President Greg Foran will replace Price as Asia CEO.
Price will replace Judith McKenna, who will move to Wal-Mart U.S., where she’ll be head of new store-format development, an area where Wal-Mart expects great growth in the current fiscal year, which started Feb. 1.
The retailer expects to add approximately 270 to 300 small stores, doubling the initial forecast of 120 to 150 stores. Wal-Mart U.S. will continue its plan to open approximately 115 new Supercenters this year.
Price came to Wal-Mart in 2009 from DHL Express Europe.
He has been credited with making progress in Asia, particularly in the difficult China and India markets. Wal-Mart has nearly 150,000 associates and more than 1,000 stores in Asia, according to the company’s website.
Chuck E. Cheese moves to Shackleford
Chuck E. Cheese closed its Rodney Parham location Sunday and has opened a new location at Shackleford Crossing, company spokesman Sarah Chollar said Friday.
The company’s new location is 2706 S. Shackleford Road. The new location is 14,200 square feet, 679 square feet larger than the previous store, Chollar said.
About 30 cast members and five mangers will be employed at the location, with most of the employees at the previous store transferring to the new one, she said.
Moms and farmers to connect via tour
The Moms on the Farm Tour, aimed at getting moms to connect with food producers, will be Tuesday in Bentonville, the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture announced Friday.
The event will be held at the Benton County cooperative extension office, at 1204 SW 14th St., according to the news release. It is free and open to the public.
Event registration begins at 8:15 a.m. and then participants will be bused to dairy, poultry and beef farms. It also will include lunch, cooking demonstrations and a question-and answer session with food experts, according to the release.
The university system’s agriculture division and the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences are holding the event.
- Jessica Seaman
Study: Airline mergers linked to delays
Flight delays and cancellations rose as competition between carriers declined at U.S. airports, according to a study ordered by Congress in the wake of airline mergers.
The relationship between the average length of a delayed flight and competition was “statistically significant and sizable,” the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general found this week.
“When competition decreased, both the average length of flight delays and percentage of total flights that were late increased,” according to the report released Tuesday by Mitchell Behm, an assistant inspector general.
Since 2005, mergers have winnowed the number of major carriers to four: American Airlines Group Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co.
The length of time a flight was delayed increased by 25.3 percent when a market’s airline service shrank from three to two, the study found. The effect on the percentage of late flights was smaller and barely statistically significant, it said.
A market that went from three carriers to two also had a 7 percent increase in canceled flights, according to the study.
The study examined more than 2,500 U.S. routes flown by 20 airlines from 2005 through 2012.
Business, Pages 32 on 04/26/2014