800 suppliers plan pitches to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will hear product pitches from about 800 suppliers as part of its open call and Manufacturing Summit in Bentonville today.
The event will be held at Wal-Mart's home office as part of the retailer's commitment to purchase $250 billion in American-made products by 2023.
This is the second year Wal-Mart has combined its Manufacturing Summit with the open call, where suppliers pitch U.S.-made products to the retailer. There is one notable change to the format this year, as Wal-Mart condenses the event from two days to one.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson will participate in the Manufacturing Summit for the second straight year. Six members of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, including Executive Director Mike Preston, will attend.
"It's a great opportunity for us to talk about all the good things happening in Arkansas," Preston said.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
NASA awards grant for tech-firm project
Fayetteville-based technology firm Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc. has been awarded a nearly $125,000 grant to create a process model to design circuits that will work for long periods in extremely high temperatures.
According to a Monday release, the grant from NASA supports the development of silicon carbide technology used for sensors and control systems capable of working at temperatures higher than 930 degrees Fahrenheit -- like those found on the surface of Venus or inside a jet engine.
In May, Ozark Integrated Circuits was awarded a $754,000 contract from NASA to build a silicon carbide-based microchip prototype for use in an ultraviolet camera used in planetary exploration.
Ozark Integrated Circuits was spun out of research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and operates out of the Arkansas Research and Technology Park.
-- John Magsam
Index gives up 7.54 on U.K.-vote fallout
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 7.54 to 310.68 Monday.
"The major averages traded lower as investors fight to digest the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock.
All but two stocks lost ground.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 06/28/2016