Camden News, June 5, 2009
By DONNA COLLINS, Staff Writer
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has hit the economic development trifecta – new job creation, plant expansion and government contracts that will take the defense contractor beyond 2010.
“We’re a quiet company,” GDATP plant manager Dave Chilcote recently told the Camden News. Chilcote said the company has a current workforce of about 220. GDATP is a business unit of General Dynamics, the company that once employed several hundred area workers at its plant near Camden Regional Airport. That building, now owned by Highland Industrial Park, remains unoccupied most of the year.
General Dynamics recently honored the team in Camden, Arkansas, with its 2009 Manufacturing Excellence Award at a ceremony in Tampa, Fla. General Dynamics Chairman Nick Chabraja presented the award to the Camden team at the General Dynamics Manufacturing Symposium.
The symposium provides an opportunity for General Dynamics employees to share and to adopt best manufacturing processes across the business. The Manufacturing Excellence Award recognizes the General Dynamics teams and departments that have demonstrated a commitment to world-class manufacturing operations and processes.
In partnership with the Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development and area employers, the Camden Area Chamber of Commerce has agreed to organize two new programs to help recruit and attract workers new to Camden. The Ouachita Partnership will provide funding and the Chamber will recruit and support residents and workforce members interested in participating.
Energy – It’s part of our future. We are rich in barely tapped energy resources – timber and lignite coal. We are working hard to make energy a driver of our economy. 
Business First – Want respect? In this community, we hold our business owners in high regard. Our Chamber is their advocate. 
Camden Daffodil Festival - The Most Beautiful Garden Show in Arkansas. Held annually on the second week-end in March, the festival will celebrate its 17th year on March 12-13, 2010. Annual attendance is approximately 14,000 people from all over the United States. 
Defense – We’re big on a strong national defense because it’s in our blood. The defense industry is the life blood of our economy. For us, it is jobs and pride and an awareness that what our defense workers do to deliver the very best in workmanship makes the difference between life and death. 
Star of the River – Camden is the hub of social and commercial activity for Ouachita and Calhoun Counties. It’s where it’s happening from civic clubs to festivals to shopping to “Where History Lives”. 