LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe sees the potential for gain in the wake of Fort Smith’s loss of what remains of the Whirlpool refrigerator manufacturing operation there later this year.
The skilled work force and hulking physical plant that Whirlpool will leave behind when it shuts down operations, idling about 1,000 workers, would dovetail nicely with Caterpillar’s plans for a new hydraulic excavator factory employing about 1,400 in the U.S., according to the governor.
Though he did not say talks were under way, Beebe said in an interview Wednesday “absolutely, there’s a chance” the Whirlpool site at Fort Smith would be a good fit for Caterpillar, which already has a road grader plant at North Little Rock.
The governor spoke glowingly of Fort Smith’s manufacturing capacity.
“It’s tremendous potential, not just with a qualified work force, which is already there and we would be able to market to be able to train and retrain for specific new needs or specific new opportunities for specific new manufacturers who might want to come in there,” Beebe said in an interview with Arkansas News Bureau business columnist Roby Brock.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“But also we have a lot of capacity in terms of facilities, Whirlpool being one of them.”
Beebe said Fort Smith economic development officials and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission are working to market around 2 million square feet of structures Whirlpool operates in Fort Smith. Sometimes that effort is complicated by the wishes of the owner.
“They don’t want to sell to competitors,” Beebe said, as an example of how the property marketing is limited.
Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders said Wednesday the Whirlpool plant has the size to accommodate a major manufacturing operation like Caterpillar.
“There’s no doubt the work force is skilled and has the capability to build products like what Caterpillar would have,” Sanders added. “We’re blessed to have such a great work force, and we have the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith ready to customize any training Caterpillar might require.
“We’ll do whatever we can do to help out (the governor and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission).”