Ceremony opens East Camden site for Rheinmetall Camden News 2/18/10 By TAMMY FRAZIER Staff Writer Highland Industrial Park in East Camden welcomed another business to the area Wednesday afternoon when American Rheinmetall Munitions held its official opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sen. Mark Pryor was the guest speaker at the event.
Dirk Ruettgerodt of A.R.M. introduced Camden Mayor Chris Claybaker and East Camden Mayor Dan Keithley, along with American Rheinmetall’s chief operating officer Helmut Binder; Joe Bailey of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Armin Papperger, member of the executive board of Rheinmetall Defense; and chief executive officer of American Rheinmetall Munitions Kevin Sullivent along with representatives of industries in Highland Park.
The facility location was planned through the Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development and the Arkansas Department of Economic Development to benefit surrounding communities.
A.R.M. is a division of Rheinmetall Defense, whose headquarters is in Dusseldorf, Germany, according to information provided by the company. A.R.M. is Germany’s largest defense contractor.
Papperger told the group that A.R.M. produces medium-caliber automatic cannons, weapon systems and pyrotechnics. "We invested in the U.S.A. and we are proud to create value for your country," he said, adding that to date, the U.S. Marine Corps has placed an order with A.R.M. for more than $130 million in products.
"We were fortunate enough to find this location in Camden, Arkansas, through the Arkansas Economic Commission," he said. "We are pleased to have this multi-million dollar project and to play a small part in stimulating this struggling, global economy."
Another goal of A.R..M. is to reduce unexploded ordnances, reduce the environmental impact associated with military training and reduce cost.
"We are talking about $20 million we can save every year with this new ammunition," Papperger said. He said the company’s philosophy is that "Americans should guide U.S. companies."
Pryor thanked A.R.M. for bringing its operation to Highland Industrial Park and said that there is a lot of technology involved in the manufacturing of its special brand of ammunition manufactured. By being "green," he said the ammunition does not have harmful chemicals that will get into the water supply or cause problems to the environment.
"It (A.R.M.) is a great for Camden and East Camden, it’s great for Ouachita County, Calhoun County, and certainly it’s a big credit to Highland Industrial Park here who continues to draw these great companies from around the world to come here to South Arkansas to be a very major player in military production not just for U.S military production, but for people all around the world," Pryor said.
Bailey said that bringing A.R.M. to South Arkansas was through a team effort and he thanked Gov. Mike Beebe for his efforts.
Those who attended the event were then loaded into buses and taken to the plant site where the company’s first Camden employees were observed working on the assembly line. It was explained that the one production line could produce a million rounds of ammunition per year and could produce a million more per additional line that may be added in the future.
After the group returned from the production site, Claybaker told the Camden News that it is exciting for Camden and South Arkansas.
"The jobs are just a small part of it," he said. "It’s the foreign investment that I’m really excited about. And of course they’re talking about doubling the number of jobs within a year and then probably doubling that again. The more they see the value of the employees that we have here in South Arkansas, I think the additional investments are going to come too."
Pryor said after the meeting that the number of employees is planned to increase to around 100 shortly. The plant currently employs 23 people.
"Some of it depends on how many military contracts they get," he said. "They are competitively bidding on about 23, but however many they get, they said this is where they want to be."
Papperger and Ruettgerodt told the Camden News that they chose the area because it was very important for the company to find a location that would offer the equipment and employees who could safely handle the ammunition.
"We have 21 facilities around the world and we are always looking for facilities that look like this, Papperger said "and it was most important for us to get motivated people, people who know what ammunition is and how to handle it. And you have that here."
By the end of the year, Papperge said the Camden facility plans to have in production three different types of ammunition, and an other two or three types within 18 months, with 100 employees. |
