State hands out top exporter awards

The Saint Jean Industries manufacturing plant in Heber Springs was almost wiped out by the recession.

One of five Arkansas exporters awarded Wednesday at the ninth annual Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade, Saint Jean primarily makes chassis parts for the automotive industry, said Patrick Bowens, plant manager in Heber Springs.

The company lost 90 percent of its sales after 2011 at the Heber Springs plant, from $70 million to $7 million. The number of employees fell from 343 to 43.

“We were about gone,” Bowens said. “We survived because we had good people, good support and a good product. It was up to us. We had to find new business.”

One of Saint Jean’s primary clients is Chrysler. It also provides parts for Tesla, Bowens said.

Saint Jean, which won the larger-manufacturer exporter award, makes control arms, which connect wheels and hubs to vehicles, Bowens said. It also makes the steering mechanism, he said.

Saint Jean, which has corporate headquarters in France, began as a foundry in 1962. It opened the Heber Springs plant in 2006.

Saint Jean, which now has about 440 employees, expects to have about $150 million in sales next year and about $200 million in sales in five years, Bowens said.

It exports to Mexico, Canada and China. When Saint Jean was at the bottom with only $7 million in sales, its exports were what kept the business going, Bowens said.

Another winner Wednesday at the ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion, Clear Ballistics of Fort Smith, began in a garage of the founders, said Joel Edwards, managing partner of the business. Clear Ballistics won the Arkansas Rising Star award.

Clear Ballistics manufactures clear synthetic ballistics gelatin for use in testing ammunition, among other uses. Many security companies and defense companies use the product, Edwards said.

“They use it for lifesaving purposes down to armor testing and weapons development,” Edwards said. “If you’re testing a hollow-point round, usually about 60 inches of gel will stop that round.”

EcoJohn of North Little Rock won the sustainability award. EcoJohn makes waterless toilets, among other products, that allow for disposal of waste by incineration.

“Over the last 10 years, EcoJohn has developed wastewater solutions that eliminate the need for septic when dealing with waste,” said Stefan Johansson, cofounder and chief executive officer of the company.

No chemicals are used in the patented evaporation technology, Johansson said.

By using a small amount of propane with waterless toilets, it evaporates all sewage into a small amount of neutralized ash, Johansson said.

“It takes 15 to 30 minutes to process the waste and it’s gone,” he said.

Other export winners were Safe Foods Corp. of North Little Rock for the small-manufacturer award and Allen Engineering Corp of Paragould for the medium-manufacturer exporter award.

Safe Foods provides foodsafety solutions to domestic and international food processors. Its export markets include Canada, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile and Saudi Arabia.

Allen Engineering provides concrete products such as truss screeds, concrete pavers, riding trowels and composite disks for domestic and international customers.