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With its planned factory in the new Oldenburg Industrial Park in Washington, AZZ Incorporated, a Fort Worth, Texas-based metal coating company, plans to treat coiled sheets of aluminum for corrosion resistance. 

With construction starting in January or February next year, a 250,000 square-foot plant will increase AZZ’s industry-leading production, and bring 80 “skilled” jobs to the area in 2024, according to Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Investor Relations David Nark.

“We’re going to be putting in an aluminum coil coating line for our precoat metals division,” he said.

On the line, big coils of aluminum sheet, weighing up to 60,000 pounds, are uncoiled at one end, sent through a painting process at up to 700 feet per minute, and recoiled at the other end. During the process, the aluminum sheets are cleaned, roller painted, cured in an oven, quenched and dried.

Nark said the coated aluminum is then shipped to customers, though he said he could not name specific clients.

“That aluminum is sent off to a manufacturer who will fabricate it into a variety of applications,” he said. “One of the most common applications are aluminum containers such as beverage containers, in particular the tops of the cans or the pull tab.”

Other industries served by AZZ include construction, heating and cooling, transportation and appliances. AZZ already has secured customer contracts to account for more than 75 percent of the capacity of the planned plant, illustrating the high demand for these products.

The facility in Washington will be AZZ’s 14th coating plant and it also operates 41 galvanizing locations nationally. The company was founded in 1956 as Aztec Manufacturing and announced the Washington expansion Nov. 11. 

AZZ operates other precoating locations in St. Louis, Missouri; Houston, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Columbia, South Carolina; Hawesville, Kentucky; Baltimore, Maryland; Greenfield, Indiana; Kingsbury, Indiana; Weirton, West Virginia; Portage, Indiana; and two locations in Granite City, Ilinois. 

The city of Washington and state of Missouri gave AZZ significant benefits, like 15-year 65 percent tax abatements for real estate and 75 percent tax abatements for personal property. 

Nark said AZZ looked at other cities before settling on Washington, but the amenities here put the town at the top of the board.

“We selected the Washington location due to the growing economic development occurring in the area,” President and COO of AZZ Precoat Metals Kurt Russell said. “Additionally, the close proximity to our existing operations ensures local engineering and operational resources will be available for a timely startup.  We are pleased to secure a location with several logistical advantages ideally situated for our valued customer base.”

Nark said employees from the St. Louis area plants would assist in the hiring, training and production process. Open positions include jobs in production and management.

AZZ has not named a contractor or released a design for its $110 million factory. The plant is planned to come online in 2025 and produce at least $60 million in revenue by 2026. The publicly-traded company reported a revenue of $835 million in 2022.

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