ROGERS — Walmart’s national “Made in the USA” campaign is helping create jobs locally.

Redman & Associates is opening a manufacturing and distribution facility in Rogers that will eventually employ 74 people. The Bentonville-based company makes 6- and 12-volt battery-powered ride-on toys sold at Walmart. The toys are now made in four factories in and around Shanghai, China.

Mel Redman, president and chief executive officer of Redman & Associates, made the announcement Monday side-by-side with local and state officials and members of Walmart’s leadership team.

“This is the start of a very long journey to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.,” said Bill Simon, president and chief executive officer for Walmart U.S.

Simon announced in January the retailer’s intention to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products over the next 10 years. Part of that initiative is to grow U.S. manufacturing.

The children’s riding toys are sold exclusively at Walmart and feature characters from the Disney and Marvel franchises.

Redman is investing $6.5 million moving into the vacant 275,000-square-foot factory at 1300 N. Dixieland Road. and production is slated to begin early next year. The average wage at the plant will be $18.55 an hour, he said.

“That means we are putting about $3 million back into the local economy every year in wages,” Redman said.

Eventually all local operations will be moved to the Dixieland Road plant, including the 16 current office workers and sales staff. Redman said the process of moving all manufacturing of the 6-volt toys from China to Rogers will take three years. The company will employ 17 manufacturing employees when it opens the Rogers plant early next year and add on as operations shift domestically.

Redman said the 12-volt version are very seasonal and a small part of sales, so manufacturing will remain in China.

The largest company expense is the $7 million spent every year on ocean freight, he said. About 2,900 containers make the trek from China to a port in Long Beach, Calif., each year. Items then travel by truck to Walmart’s distribution centers across the country.

“Going from Long Beach is like having a one-sided spider web,” Redman said. “Northwest Arkansas is like being the hub of a wheel.”

The move to Rogers will eliminate 2.2 million miles of truck traffic each year and take a full week out of the supply chain.

Simon said the manufacturing job growth in Northwest Arkansas was not a planned goal of the Made in the USA campaign, but is a positive side effect.

“We are not just bringing back jobs, but are bringing back opportunities,” he said.

Gov. Mike Beebe said it took a lot of courage for Redman, as a small manufacturer, to make the change. He said patriotism plays a role in business decisions, but in the end the company must stay competitive.

“This is an example of what can happen when folks work together,” Beebe said.

This is the second time in less than a year that the governor has been in Rogers for an economic development announcement for the building at 1300 N. Dixieland Road. Last October, Beebe traveled to the factory site to announce 350 jobs by NextLife Asset Recovery Services, a company that recycles plastic products into a powder that is then used to make new items.

NextLife closed its Rogers facility a few months ago. The phone number for the company’s Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters was not working Monday.

Steve Cox, vice president of economic development at the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, said it is nice being able to fill the factory building again so quickly.

“There will be a trickle-down effect, as other companies follow in (Redman & Associates’) footsteps,” Cox said. “Other service industries will also benefit from the additional work.”

Greg Hines, Rogers mayor, said the additional jobs are even more valuable in today’s slowly improving economy.

“We are competing in a global market and it is just as important to retain jobs as it is to get new jobs,” he said. “Getting one new job is like getting 10 jobs.”