Skills gap at forefront of tech forum

SPRINGDALE -- Camden, a city of 10,000 in southern Arkansas, is dominated by a large, high-tech aerospace and defense company. About 650 people work at Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control Program industrial park, which takes up about 1,800 acres in town.

Products of the aerospace and defense industry are a big portion of Arkansas' exports, said Chad Causey, executive director of the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Alliance. Causey helped organize a business conference for the alliance, which took place Wednesday in Springdale.

Mike Preston, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, estimated the exports for the aerospace and defense industry at $800 million of the state's about $5.8 billion of exports. The industry also employs about 10,000 in the state.

But stagnant marketing budgets and a skills gap in the state's workforce could hold back industry.

Causey said the industry has significant potential to grow in Arkansas.

"We have ways to expand aerospace jobs," he said.

Two years ago, Dassault Falcon Jet, a defense and aerospace company that operates a large completion center in Little Rock, was given $60 million for expansion. In January, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the expansion had not added any new jobs to the state. Preston, who was not head of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission at the time, said at Wednesday's conference that the incentive kept the company in the state when it could have moved elsewhere.

"Anytime you buy a Falcon Jet, you have to fly to Little Rock to pick it up," Preston said. "We need to protect the jobs we have."

Most of the state's exports are agricultural, led by poultry and rice. But agriculture in Arkansas doesn't have the same room to expand, said Bob East, president of the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Alliance.

"These are great jobs," he said. "We aren't going to build more jobs for rice farmers, but we can build the aerospace industry."

East said the state needs to focus on workforce training to both attract and keep major companies like Lockheed Martin.

"The biggest thing employers say is they can't find trained people," he said. "There's a lot more room for workplace development, but it's got to go to the right places."

He said these jobs are usually high-paying and require technical skills that the state's education system needs to stress to meet the needs of these companies.

"A diesel mechanic and plumber are making more than that art history major," he said.

Preston said another major obstacle to expanding the industry and attracting more big name companies is a dearth of marketing by the state. He said that Arkansas, for the first time this year, had a presence at the Paris air show, the largest gathering in the industry.

"We are moving in the right direction, but we haven't told our story well enough," he said.

Business on 03/10/2016

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