Welspun Dedicates New Plant at LR Port

AP Business

Tuesday April 28, 2009 Welspun dedicates new plant at LR port CHUCK BARTELS AP Business Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The economy has gone through some momentous changes in the two years that have passed since Welspun Tubular LLC announced it would build a pipe factory in Little Rock.

But the $150 million plant is in production, and the company was credited during a Tuesday ceremony for devoting more resources than expected to the facility.

"They have invested more money and hired more people than they had committed," Gov. Mike Beebe said at the event to mark the start of production.

B.K. Goekna, chairman and chief executive officer of parent company Welspun Group, said the company first found its way to Arkansas 15 years ago.

As reflected in its name, Welspun began as a textile company and in 1994 made a pitch to be a supplier for Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"Wal-Mart trusted us at that time, visited our plant in India and gave us our maiden order in the U.S. market," Goekna said. He credited that breakthrough to Welspun developing as a leader in the textile industry and now being a supplier to many major U.S. retail chains.

"Destiny has brought us back to Arkansas," Goekna said to a crowd of several hundred who gathered inside a tent at the factory grounds at the Port of Little Rock.