News

ARSENAL SEEKING NEW ROLES

By Larry Fugate/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, February 22, 2008 10:12 AM CST

Col. Bill Barnett, commander of the Pine Bluff Arsenal, has a new mission: Salesman.

He is spending a significant portion of his days looking for new roles for the facility to perform once the incineration of 12 percent of the country’s chemical weapons stockpile is completed in 2012.

“It’s not the end of an era,” Barnett told the West Pine Bluff Rotary Club on Thursday. “It’s an opportunity.”

He said the arsenal has a trained work force with a “reputation for putting out quality products.”

More than 2,400 civilian and military personnel work at the arsenal, including hundreds of contract employees, he told the civic club, producing munitions, chemical-biological protective gear and destroying the chemical weapons.

The veteran of Desert Storm said time away from the military installation means he is “taking the arsenal to our customers ... to find new jobs for the arsenal.”

The arsenal generated $165 million in revenues in 2007, almost 100 percent over 2006, and is on track to generate $175 million in 2008.

“We must speak the language business understands,” Barnett added. That translates into generating new revenue or reducing costs, the same issues faced by the private sector in the current economic slowdown.

During a question and answer session, Barnett’s response to the threat of terrorism was meeting the “threats head-on.”

The nation must stockpile certain materials and the arsenal could play a crucial role, Barnett said, noting the installation has “world class” facilities to maintain and test the materials that will be needed.

“We have the support structures we can take advantage of,” he added. “That’s why I am taking the word to the street ... letting them know we want more business.”

Barnett said the effort is paying off, explaining he has observed a “positive shift ... some real interest in what we do. ... We are going to keep taking this mission forward.”

As the arsenal’s strategic plan is re-evaluated in coming months, Barnett said the existing infrastructure will play a crucial role in decisions made at the national level.