W&W|AFCO Steel, the largest steel fabricator in the United States, announced Wednesday that it will locate a production facility in the former LM Wind Power complex at the Port of Little Rock.
The expansion will add 115 full-time jobs over five years and represent an $18.7 million investment for the company, founded 113 years ago in Little Rock. There are already three facilities in Little Rock and a fourth in Van Buren.
The family-owned company, known as AFCO Steel until 2015, was sold in 2002 to W&W Steel of Oklahoma City where it is now based. The company has 18 production facilities in 11 states covering 3.4 million square feet.
W&W|AFCO Steel will lease the largest building -- at 133,437 square feet -- as well as a sizeable amount of the 135-acre site for storage, officials said.
An Arkansas-based investor group called 8000 Frazier Pike LLC -- represented by Clinton Bennett, broker and owner of Bennett Commercial Real Estate of Rogers -- purchased the property from LM Wind Power in December 2020 for $9.5 million.
Grady Harvell, the president and chief operating officer for W&W|AFCO Steel, said the company has an option to buy the portion of the property it will use.
Harvell, a 50-year employee of the company, was among a lineup of dignitaries who spoke at the announcement inside the long, cavernous metal building that will house the facility. About 250 employees from the company's day shift production and office staff attended the announcement.
He and other speakers repeatedly credited the workforce at W&W|AFCO Steel Steel -- and the Arkansas workforce in general -- for the company's success.
"For 113 years, our company has provided lifetime jobs and great benefits to thousands of Arkansans," he said. "Those past and present are represented by my W&W|AFCO Steel associates who are out here today."
Its workforce, Harvell said, includes welders, fitters, machine operators, maintenance mechanics, fabrication trainees, crane operators, painters, inspectors, production planners, detailers, supervisors, sales people, estimators, construction managers, project managers, plant managers, engineers, accountants, purchasing agents and information technology personnel, all of which add up to a workforce of 400 in Arkansas.
But he said one of the company's "more important departments today" was its human resources department, which works out of the company's office on East Sixth Street.
"And they're here with us today and open to take applications," Harvell said. "If you have a child, a grandchild, a nephew, a niece or a cousin or a friend, send them on down to East Sixth Street. We're hiring and we're training for the future."
The expansion was necessary to enhance the company's ability to provide competitive steel bridges to the state and region as well increase its capacity to produce steel for commercial buildings, he said. The expansion also comes as Arkansas -- specifically northeast Arkansas -- has replaced Pennsylvania as the steel production center of the nation, Harvell said.
Harvell and W&W|AFCO Steel typically keep a low profile but the company garnered some attention last summer when it provided 100 tons of fabricated steel to help repair the Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River between West Memphis and Memphis.
The bridge, an important river crossing through the middle of the United States, was closed for almost three months after a fracture affecting the integrity of the bridge was discovered after going unnoticed for several years.
The company is providing 22 tons of fabricated steel for the nearby 30 Crossing project, a $1 billion plan to remake the 6.7-mile Interstate 30 corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock. The work includes replacing the I-30 bridge over the Arkansas River.
The company's steel also has been used in such projects as the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nev.; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; the Boeing 777X Composite Wing facility in Everett, Wash.; the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York and the Big Rock Interchange in Little Rock.
"For more than a century, W&W|AFCO Steel has been a strong business partner in Arkansas," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. "Much of Little Rock's commercial buildings were built with AFCO steel, and I'm thrilled to see that a company that has invested so much in our community continues to prosper."
The announcement was the latest in a string of new businesses within the port.
They include an Amazon.com fulfillment center that brought well over 2,000 jobs to the port.
Another high-profile announcement at the port came when Trex Co. Inc. a leading maker of decking, railing and outdoor items from recycled materials, said last fall that it intends to build a manufacturing plant at the port, bringing with it more than 500 jobs and a nearly $400 million investment.
It prompted Hutchinson, when it was his turn to speak, to turn to Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and joke that the pair should just open "a side office out here at the port. It seems like we are up here regularly for an announcement."
More seriously, the governor said that the company's expansion was a testament to the state's commitment to low taxes and regulatory burdens, "an environment in Arkansas that we foster, we build and it makes a difference."
Hutchinson said he also believes it is a testament to what he called the state's continued "investment in infrastructure," which was reflected in passage of Amendment 101 to the Arkansas Constitution, which makes permanent a 0.5% statewide sales tax devoted to road and bridge improvements.
He also cited passage of a federal infrastructure bill that will result in millions of additional dollars for infrastructure in Arkansas.
"Let me tell you, the future of the steel industry is bright here in Arkansas," Hutchinson said.
However, the governor did cite a "worrisome" development that the Biden administration restored some environmental regulations that the Trump administration had scaled back that apply to major infrastructure projects.
The restored regulations include a requirement to analyze the indirect impacts on the environment of a proposed project.
"This is rolling back, this is increasing regulations," the governor said. "We want to make sure that we enhance investments, we enhance growth and we don't want to slow down major projects because of a regulatory burden. We will do everything we can to eliminate that."
Joe Baily, the port's board chairman, noted that AFCO Steel was one of the first businesses to operate at the port. "Today's announcement brings the company full circle, and we look forward to supporting W&W|AFCO Steel as they expand and continue to grow at the Port."
LM Wind Power employed 470 people when the company announced in April 2020 that it was closing its port production facility after demand fell for the 144.6-foot and 204-foot blades it produced. Industrial wind farms now prefer larger blades.
Steel workers applaud during Wednesday’s announcement of W&W|AFCO Steel’s new fabrication facility at the Port of Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)