TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/060589/06058900.021

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 2KB | 33 lines

BUSINESS, Page 52

Blytheville's Bounty


    You won't find anyone swinging a sledgehammer at a Toyota in
Blytheville, Ark. Situated in one of the most impoverished sections
of the U.S., the Mississippi River town (pop. 24,000) has outdone
itself trying to make Japanese business people feel welcome. In
1985, when Blytheville first learned that the Japanese steel firm
Yamato Kogyo and North Carolina-based Nucor were looking for a
500-acre site to build a jointly owned mill, the townspeople
rallied to action. The school system agreed to add extra English
classes and hire special tutors. The Cotton Boll Vocational and
Technical School promised low-cost training to help Japanese
technicians adjust to U.S. industry standards. The state police
agreed to waive all requirements for driver's licenses except the
written exam. Says Mississippi County Court Judge Joe Gurley: "We
promised them just about anything they wanted. We were desperate."

    The Arkansans kept up their wooing even after the bride was
won. Once Nucor and Yamato picked Blytheville for the $230 million
mill, the town chose eight civic leaders to travel to Japan at
public expense to see what more could be done. Shortly after ground
was broken for the plant in 1987, tempura and stir-fried dishes
were on the menu at the Holiday Inn and townspeople were flocking
to seminars on Japanese culture and business.

    "We were delighted," says Sam Kitadai, a director of the board
at the mill and one of about a dozen Japanese living in
Blytheville. So are the locals. The plant produces 550,000 tons of
steel a year and employs 366 people. Local trucking and service
companies have sprung up, giving the town an additional 150 jobs.
"I don't have the words to tell you what the plant means to us,"
says Mayor Joe Gude. "It has people thinking positive again."