THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE RESIDENTS OF WEST MEMPHIS AND CRITTENDEN COUNTY. I AM PROUD TO HAVE AWESOME PRODUCTS, INC. IN OUR COMMUNITY.
Monday, April 19, 2010
THE EVENING TIMES
Business expansion may add 200 jobs
A business with manufacturing and distribution centers in West Memphis has plans for a major expansion that will add at least 200 new jobs to the city.
Awesome Products Inc., a company based in Buena Park, Cal. that produces household cleaning products, is in the process of expanding its facilities at 271 South 7th Street and 110 East Jefferson by 700,000 square feet. The additions will add between 200 to 300 new jobs, according to Awesome Products President L.D. Hardas.
"We love West Memphis... It's a very big project that we're trying to bring in there," Hardas said in an telephone interview Thursday afternoon.
West Memphis City Council members approved a pair of resolutions Thursday to authorize the company to participate in a state program that refunds companies for local sales and use taxes for certain building projects that add jobs.
The addition at Awesome Products will also result in an expansion at Consolidated Container Company in West Memphis, according to West Memphis Economic Development Director Ward Wimbish. Consolidated Container Company, an Atlanta-based company, will make the containers for Awesome Products.
Consolidated Container Company originally wanted to produce the containers at its Memphis facility, but Hardas decided to build an addition to allow the company to produce the containers on site, Wimbish said.
"He said ‘No, I'm not buying any bottles from you that you don't make in West Memphis,'" Wimbish said. "So, they are doubling the capacity of what they produce in West Memphis by putting four new lines in his building... His production is so large that they've devoted four lines 24-7 to supply him."
Awesome Products also has manufacturing and distribution centers in Patterson, New Jersey and Orange County, Cal.
The company has purchased additional property in West Memphis with plans to produce even more products in the future, the economic development director said.
The California company, which sells cleaning products to Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Family Dollar stores, is a "really good fit" for West Memphis, Wimbish said.
"He's the kind of corporate citizen that we need more of," Wimbish said of Hardas.
