Arkansas Business has a late-week scoop:
Two-dozen workers have been laid off by Redman and Associates, a Rogers maker of battery-powered toy cars and highly touted as part of Walmart’s buy-American initiative. The company has also filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company that previously made the cars. Redman has received $2 million in state support.
The news breaks as Arkanas Business prepared to go to press next week with this story about CEO Mel Redman’s past legal troubles. The article included a look at the company’s ability to deliver on manufacturing promises as a startup with no previous manufacturing experience. Arkansas Business talked to AEDC Director Grant Tennille:
“We’ve known all along they’ve never manufactured a darn thing before,” Tennille said, but he suggested the usual suspects were not the first in line to bring manufacturing jobs back from overseas.
“The people who are ready to go in this new on-shoring environment aren’t maybe who we all thought they were. The guys who are ready to jump right now often are … a briefcase guy like Mel. Mel has been selling this same product to Wal-Mart for a number of years now.
“What’s happening as these folks are being pressured to get this stuff manufactured in the U.S., these briefcase guys are figuring out how to be manufacturers. There are risks here. We knew there were risks here the day we made the deal.”