AEDC’s Tennille On Dassault Falcon, Remington Arms Expansions

Grant Tennille, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said two recently announced expansions are a positive sign for the state’s manufacturing base.

Arkansas economic development officials announced last week that private jet plane maker Dassault Falcon Jet would expand its Little Rock facility by $60 million, but it wasn’t without a fight.

Tennille said locations in North and South Carolina were also in competition for Dassault’s expansion business.

“Dassault made it very clear to us from the beginning that this was going to be a competitive situation. We knew if we lost this, it would be an immediate 420-job hit,” said Tennille. “As we’ve seen often with other manufacturing facilities here in the state, once you start to lose, it becomes an inevitability.”

He added that once the expansion is completed, he expects as many as 300 new jobs could follow.

Tennille said Dassault was worried about “putting too many eggs in one basket” in Little Rock. The French-based company expressed concerns that it could be one natural disaster away from a U.S. shutdown.

Arkansas officials highlighted that the Carolinas were more susceptible to hurricanes than Dassault’s Little Rock facility would be to a tornado.

“This expansion by Dassault will make this the largest Dassault facility in the world. It secures Dassault’s presence in Little Rock very likely for the next 50 years,” he said.

“The reason we were so intent on getting this deal done is the long-term impact. As you know, the aviation industry has taken a hammering during the recession on a global basis. Really, on the high-end private jet market, two companies have emerged – Gulf Stream and Dassault Falcon Jet. Dassault is a survivor. They’re going to be in the market for a long time,” he added.

Tennille said that Dassault’s partnerships with Pulaski Technical College and UALR, which will have a press conference on Monday to highlight a new “game-changing” emerging analytics center, were a difference-maker in landing the expansion.

“We won because Dassault is very comfortable with this workforce. They know it well, they’ve been here for many years in business,” he said.

Tennille also said the state is working with Remington Arms on a $32 million, 60 job expansion. Later this year, a groundbreaking on the project is planned.

“We have been in the process of working with Remington, dotting the I’s, crossing the T’s. In terms of their internal pressures, the NRA convention was the right time for them to start making some noise about that. Our deal wasn’t absolutely final at that point,” Tennille said of an earlier-than-expected announcement of the deal.

You can watch his full interview below.