Last year was the second-best year of record for ABC Metals, the company’s president reported.
The local metals distributor has become the largest in the country of at least a dozen independent distributors that deal in brass and copper strip, said president and chief operations officer Daniel Kendall.
“We have been growing,” Kendall said, despite the recent economic recession.
“We started to see growth really take place after about 2009, that dip,” he said. “There was some market consolidation and we had positioned ourselves so we could respond well to that market.
“In fact, when other folks were using red ink to mark down their financial results in 2009, we were profitable,” added Kendall.
Since its founding in 1973, the Logansport-based company has expanded to include facilities in El Paso and Pharr, Texas. Employment in Logansport has grown to 41 permanent and temporary employees after a 2011 building addition helped workers be more productive.
A record-breaking year in 2010, when business shot up 50 to 60 percent over the previous year, meant the company was outgrowing its Logansport facility.
“We literally had products filling our aisles,” said Kendall, and blocking quick access to other products workers needed. Those extra products were moved into a 12,000-square-foot addition for which the company received a tax abatement.
“We found that this would be the best location” for expansion, said Kendall, “from a tax standpoint, from a market standpoint and from a logistics standpoint.”
Since fully occupying the addition in December of 2011, the company has brought onto its permanent payroll the six temporary workers who were employed there at the time. It’s also hired an additional permanent employee and is looking to hire others.
Kendall said the company is looking to expand further in Logansport within the next 12 months.
“It’s been exciting,” he said. “We see further growth and I love to look out at the building and see, hey, it’s getting full again.”
Kendall anticipates about 3 percent growth over the next year, as well, despite a generally flat growth rate across the national manufacturing sector.
“Considering that the government’s forecasting gross domestic product to break even because the deal on the fiscal cliff is going to drag things down,” he said, “that means we’re going to outperform the market by 3 percent.”
ABC Metals, located at 500 W. Clinton St. in Logansport, is a distributor of aluminum, brass and copper rolled products serving North America and Asia.
Sarah Einselen is news editor for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at sarah.einselen@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5151.
Local News
ABC Metals reports solid year
Recent addition allowing for more productivity, brisk sales
- Local News
-
-
LHS students turn in laptops at year's end
After a year of 1,250 laptops carried in student backpacks, in classrooms and to homes, Logansport High School is reporting a good turn-in rate and a great year of academic achievements.
-
Company invests $1.1 million in Miami Co.
A Logansport-based company is investing $1.1 million to expand its operations into a facility north of Peru. The company said it will bring more than 30 jobs to the county.
-
Career center gets $15K grant
Students at the Century Career Center will be able to print out 3D models of their drawings next fall due to a $15,000 state grant.
-
Boost in education funding won’t benefit all schools
In the budget bill passed by the General Assembly last month, there is more money allocated for K-12 education over the next two years, but that doesn’t mean every school will get more dollars.
-
Playing with food
Two foods classes at Lewis Cass Junior-Senior High School got crafty with their food last week following family and consumer science teacher Courtney Nethercutt’s lead.
-
Unclaimed property amounts to millions in Indiana
There are millions of dollars in Indiana, the rightful owners of which cannot be located. A program through the Indiana Attorney General’s office is trying to get that property into the right hands.
-
Fulton Community Center completed
Almost a decade in the making, the Fulton Community Center is up and running.
-
Status conference set for former state rep candidate
A June 11 status conference was set Tuesday for the former Democratic state representative candidate accused of selling cocaine.
-
An equine discovery
When Bunker Hill resident Eunice Rush worked in sales, she used her education in business math and management information technology to teach a class on how to identify clients’ personality types and how to highlight areas of one’s own personality to form an effective business relationship.
-
Annexation residents demand answers
A demand for answers was the theme from the twenty people who spoke at the public meeting regarding the city’s proposed annexation areas as they took turns addressing public officials and those they’ve hired to assist with the project at a packed Logansport City Council Chambers Monday night.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Obama Offers Drone Strike Defense
Raw: Heckler Interrupts Obama on Guantanamo
A Slice of Apple History Up for Grabs
Johnson: Don't Blame Islam or UK Policy
Raw: 80-Year-Old Climbs Mount Everest
Wash. State Man Arrested Following Ricin Scare
Chain-Reaction School Bus Crash Injures About 50
Raw: Scuffles in London After Hacking Death
Texas Students Coach Teachers on Fitness
New Forecasting Tool Eyed for Hurricane Season
Meet MJ, the Bike Riding Tabby Cat
Britain Attack Believed Linked to Radical Islam
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
