SHELBY — Most children don’t think of rebar fabrication as their dream job. But Lloyd Rebar Company president Jared Mawhorr knows working with robotics could make steel manufacturing and construction more interesting to young people.
“Students do say ‘I want to run robotics,’ so to be able to bring something that’s a long-term job for them straight out of high school has been fun,” Mawhorr said.
“To be a family-owned business and be a part of Intel is amazing,” Mawhorr said. “Obviously, our workforce is going to have to at least double as well.”
Mawhorr founded Lloyd Rebar Company in Shelby in 2012 to meet the rebar reinforcement and manufacturing needs of customers mostly in the tri-state area.
Lloyd Rebar is the only rebar fabricator in Richland County and Mawhorr said it’s the largest independent fabricator in the Midwest.
The company’s advanced technology helped it catch the eye of contractors for semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel.
With only the second Schilt Robot Line in the United States, Lloyd Rebar is looking to make rebar fabrication more automated, as the Robot Line cuts and bends rebar according to directions from the company’s detailing department.
Lloyd Rebar was awarded the first release from Intel, meaning it will provide approximately 20,000 tons of rebar needed to support the construction of Intel’s new facility in Licking County between Johnstown and New Albany.
Intel has said it will begin chip production by 2025.
“The way they’re releasing the project is basically eight what they call ‘fabs,’” said Libby Wires, Lloyd Rebar chief financial officer. “They’re breaking it into quarters.
“The first release is for the first two fabs.”
Each fab consists of more than 50,000 tons of rebar, or 100 million pounds of material. Though the rebar robot tripled Lloyd Rebar’s capacity, providing a portion of the first two fabs will still take most of the company’s resources as the project begins.
Wires said the company will start work for Intel in February 2023.
“To be a family-owned business and be a part of Intel is amazing,” Mawhorr said. “Obviously, our workforce is going to have to at least double as well.”
Lloyd Rebar will buy about $3 million of new Schilt Engineering equipment to support Intel production, Mawhorr said. It is also building a new 70,000 square-foot facility next door to its 139 Technology Parkway facility.
Mawhorr said the new facility, which he plans to open next spring, will be dedicated to the Intel project and the current facility will serve Lloyd Rebar’s other customers. After the Intel project is complete, both facilities can be used for larger projects.
Morgan Brooke, employee engagement specialist, said Lloyd Rebar leadership wants to hire at least 20 additional fabricators for the Intel project. Those positions will be permanent and continue to work on other projects after the Intel release is complete. Brooke hopes they can find Shelby residents for some of those positions.
Brooke noted Lloyd Rebar has a history of providing internships and jobs to students from Pioneer Career and Technology Center, and some of those graduates are quickly promoted to management positions.
“We’re continuing to try to utilize that resource,” she said. “We really enjoy having Pioneer students and giving them the opportunity to learn different things here.”
Noah Langston, a 2022 Pioneer welding program graduate, has worked full-time at Lloyd Rebar since February. He said he was interested in welding because it was something he hadn’t done before.
With the Intel project, he said he is looking forward to more work hours.
“I like work, I don’t like to be sitting,” Langston said.
Richard Rodriguez has worked at Lloyd Rebar since September 2021 and specifically with the Schilt Robot Line since January 2022.
“I love it, it does all the work for me,” he said.
Rodriguez has to supervise the machine to make sure it’s not overloaded and fix problems if any arise. He said the rebar robot automates part of his job, but he still has plenty of work to keep busy.
“Just running that machine makes me feel like I’m really contributing to the shop,” Rodriguez said. “The more we run it, the more money we make is the way I see it.
“If I’m not running straight bars, I’m running bar that needs bent, so that gives two other employees something to do while I’m doing my job.”
Brooke said she was happy to hear Rodriguez talk about helping new employees.
“For him to be talking about teaching just shows the respect they have for each other,” she said. “I think we’re all excited to push our capacities and see what we’re capable of doing.”
Mawhorr said the whole team celebrated when Lloyd Rebar was awarded the Intel release.
“So much steel is manufactured here in Shelby that that’s what we’re known for,” he said. “To be able to bring something to Shelby like the project at Intel and the profile of Intel just proves that it is a town built on steel.”
Mawhorr said the Intel project will aid growth in the local economy between Lloyd Rebar’s revenue increase, additional jobs and locally sourced steel from Marion.
With multiple rebar projects in Ohio, he said he doesn’t think Lloyd Rebar will work on too many projects outside of the state in the next few years.
“We just have so much local work and good customers that help us get where we need,” Mawhorr said. “It’s going to be exciting. Who doesn’t want to help build Intel?”
