FAYETTEVILLE - Creative Things Inc., a company that makes plastic components and products sold in Wal-Mart stores, has plans to more than double its manufacturing operations in Lowell as part of the retailer’s commitment to invest more than $250 billion in products that support American jobs over the next decade.
Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, mentioned the company’s expansion plans during a lecture Friday to about 60 faculty members and students at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business. Creative Things has received about $280,000 of a $784,000development commission grant for its manufacturing functions, Lowell Finance Director Jerry Hudlow said. He oversees administration of the funding from the commission.
Tennille said in his remarks that the company would be making protective covers for cellphones.
Creative Things President Keith Scheffler would not disclose details of the company’s latest contract with Wal-Mart until the deal is finalized, but he said plans include building “a much larger facility” than the one it opened in Lowell last fall on Lincoln Street in an existing industrial building. The company also occupies a warehouse in Gentry.
Lowell Mayor Eldon Long said Creative Things employs about 20 to 30 people who do plastic-injection molding.
“They operate machines that make moving parts for all types of equipment, anything from electronic switches to integral parts of larger components,” the mayor said. Contracts typically call for creation of 5,000 to 20,000 pieces, Long added.
Tennille said Scheffler, an innovator, specializes in products Wal-Mart sells in its check-out area, such as dog toys and other items made of molded plastic.
The company’s latest agreement with Wal-Mart hasn’t been finalized because “the product scope keeps changing,” Tennille said.
“Part of the reason we haven’t announced it yet is because Wal-Mart continues to give them more work,” he said of Creative Things.
Since Wal-Mart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon announced the retailer’s pledge 13 months ago to sell more American-made products, the company has touted large operations that it has recruited to invest millions in manufacturing facilities and equipment in the states.Along with manufacturers of retail products, Wal-Mart’s supplier companies say there is a need for companies that make components for manufacturing machinery, Simon has said.
Tennille said Scheffler’s business “is good enough and growing fast enough” that other surrounding states were starting to court him.
“In order for him to grow and continue to employ a greater number of people, he needed access to financing,” he said.
Business, Pages 27 on 02/22/2014