By JAMES EIK
Staff Reporter
Garco Building Systems, located in Airway Heights, is benefiting from an expansion, which has increased its production capacity and ability to handle larger orders.
In short, the company transformed from a proprietary plant into a hub plant, and is now one of the largest manufacturers of custom designed steel structures in the Northwest.
Garco is one of 12 other subsidiaries owned by NCI Building Systems, based in Houston, Texas. Those subsidiaries retained their local identity and brand name when purchased by NCI, but can still help fill orders for sister shops across the county.
With its expanded capacity, that is exactly what Garco intends to do.
“That's the difference for us,” plant manager Joe Hanson said.
The new equipment required some staff training in software and technology.
“We're starting to see the benefits from it,” Hanson said.
With the expanded capacity, Garco has gone from being able to produce 60-70 tons of steel components per week to 170-180 tons per week. The total amount of investment isn't certain, but it's easily millions of dollars that have been put into the company's manufacturing plant.
Some of the equipment in the expansion is used, however it was refurbished to fit the company's needs.
Previously faced with problems meeting deadlines on larger orders, the company said that it is now on schedule. With its limited production, many recent orders fell behind schedule.
“We didn't have the capacity to meet our customers' needs,” engineering manager Mark Radmaker said.
While the expansion allowed Garco to fill orders, it also sped up the entire production process for orders.
“We're capable of putting it through the plant a lot faster,” Hanson said.
Training staff and plant workers wasn't an easy feat, however, and many are still in the process of learning the new software that came with the equipment.
“Any integration and new products make it a challenge,” Hanson said. “It's just really challenging, and we have lots of opportunity for improvement. New equipment means new jobs.”
Now, there is plenty of opportunity on the manufacturing side.
The plan to expand the facility's production has been in the works for the past nine months, but only came online in June.
A group of seven designers and 16 detailing and drafting employees, led by Radmaker, has been learning the new software, ProWest.
Joanie Garvin, marketing manager, said that the economy has turned around slightly in the last few months.
“We're starting to see the curve coming back,” she said.
In addition to the new equipment, the company hired a new salesman to help expand their sales area. However, just being a hub plant alleviates some of the pressure to aggressively push sales.
“The hub and spoke method gives us exposure to a lot of geographic pointer productions, instead of being proprietary Garco,” Hanson said.
The company can also take on workloads from other NCI subsidiaries.
Radmaker said that Garco can now act like other companies under the NCI brand.
“We're all making a similar product. The differences are very small, but we're putting a different nameplate on them,” he said.
“The end-user or distributor will find we stock a wide range of ‘user friendly' metal components,” Garvin wrote in a statement.
Projects coming in 2012 include an automated handling system, additional paint systems.
James Eik can be reached at [email protected].
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