BELLVILLE — Steel tubing manufacturer Major Metals Inc. has relocated one of its branches from North Carolina to Richland County, and the community job pool will benefit.
“We have just finished a 48,000 square-foot expansion. We moved a (steel) mill from North Carolina up to Mansfield,” said Sam Mason, of the purchasing department at Major Metals. “We have room for 18 more jobs and with a second shift, hope it could be more than that.”
Major Metals had purchased the metal tubing manufacturing company and used the building until it’s lease expired. Mason said the company essentially decided it was better for operations to be done in Mansfield.
“Once you pull a big piece of equipment off the ground, it’s going to be expensive no matter how far you move it. The distance isn’t the problem, it’s the downtime of not installing it again.”
After being offered a new eight-acre location in North Carolina with tax credits and other incentives to stay, Mason said the company made a tough decision to cut ties and head back to the heartland.
“We were talking to a couple groups like Richland Community Developmental Group and Jobs Ohio came up with a roughly $100,000 grant that was very helpful in bringing the jobs up here,” he added. “It was refreshing because it was a renewed effort.
“I know in the past, this hasn’t been the most business-friendly effort, it’s becoming much more that way.”
Mason said Major Metals uses a temporary work agency to hire new workers, but they don’t like to call those workers temps.
“We feel that by keeping people positive and motivated and being apart of our little family here,” he said. “They’ll have a little more pride in what we are doing here.”
The metal manufacturer has 67 full-time employees and 15 temporary employees or candidates, as they are referred.
“We don’t want them to be temporary workers, but because we are a smaller company, it’s a lot of work for us (to employ people),” he said. “So we go through the temp agency, but we didn’t want them to think we don’t want them here. If they walk through the door, it’s because we want them to work here full time.”
Mason said they are always seeking mill operators.
“It’s not something you can just hire off the street because it does require technical expertise,” he said. “There’s a lot of training that goes in. They are essentially the head of their workstation. We are always looking to find leaders.”
