New storage facility boosts Schebler Co.’s production space 

Not only is a brand new, cavernous warehouse at Schebler Company providing much needed materials storage but it also is creating additional space for the Bettendorf manufacturer’s increasing production.  Schebler, a manufacturer of chimneys and metal fabricator, completed construction earlier this summer on a 13,200-square-foot storage facility at its facility at 5665 Fenno Road. The […]

Not only is a brand new, cavernous warehouse at Schebler Company providing much needed materials storage but it also is creating additional space for the Bettendorf manufacturer’s increasing production. 

Schebler, a manufacturer of chimneys and metal fabricator, completed construction earlier this summer on a 13,200-square-foot storage facility at its facility at 5665 Fenno Road. The new $300,000 building – lined with rows of vertical storage racks – was unveiled Friday, Aug. 11, during an employee celebration at Schebler. Dozens of the company’s 230 employees were joined by the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce ambassadors and several elected Bettendorf city officials. “Today is about dedicating a new building, but really it is a lot more than a new building,” Shebler CEO Jim Anderson told the crowd gathered in the sunshine outside the warehouse entrance. “What we’re celebrating is Schebler now being employee-owned…”  The new warehouse expansion comes more than a year and a half after Schebler again became employee owned through a new Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).  “I think the two entrepreneurs that started Schebler would be happy to know that after 128 years, the company is again wholly owned by its employees,” he said to the scores of employee owners and guests.  The new warehouse sits on Schebler’s 16-acre site, which is located in the shadows of the neighboring Arconic Davenport Works. It was built and is owned by Schebler’s landlord, Quad-A Properties, a closely held company that leases back the facilities to Schebler, Mr. Anderson told the QCBJ.  Al Landwehr, Schebler’s executive vice president - operations, said the warehouse was built by Miles Construction of Bloomfield, Iowa, which began construction in May and completed it in late June. The project’s engineer was Shive-Hattery, Inc., Bettendorf.  Mr. Landwehr told the QCBJ that planning began more than a year ago and was driven by the need for more production space.  According to Mr. Landwehr, Schebler staff are still in the process of moving in the raw materials. “But we oversized it so we can grow into it,” he said.   “We’ve moved the non-value-added stuff out of the production building and into this storage building,” Mr. Anderson said. He said that the materials were “using up useful manufacturing space that the chimney division and fabrication needed.”  During the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, Mr. Anderson told the staff and guests about other recent milestones worth celebrating. They included: 

• Schebler grew by 15% in 2022, setting an all-time company record. 
• Both the company’s Chimney Systems and Specialty Fab set records with more than 24% and 19% growth, respectively. 
• The employee-owned Schebler saw its stock price increase more than 380% in 2022, and in a year, he said, when the Dow Jones lost more than 8% and the S&P lost more than 19%. 
• Schebler’s 2022 growth followed double-digit growth in both 2021 and 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• This year Schebler is expecting to maintain its performance gains of the previous years. 

According to Mr. Anderson, the added storage space will allow Schebler to increase its production capacity by more than 50%, including providing an additional 20-25% more floorspace for the fabrication division. He added that the storage is serving all three of Schebler’s businesses: Schebler Chimney Systems, Schebler Specialty Fab and Schebler Heating and Air.  In addition to the new building, the expansion project also included a nearly $100,000 investment in a new inventory bar coding system, which Mr. Anderson referred to as being a side benefit. “We’ve been waiting to embrace a bar coding and inventory control system, but that was difficult (when product) was located all over the place.”  In fact, the technology already is trickling into other processes and departments within the company. “The efficiency gain was significant for us,” he said. “That was a bigger gain than we thought it would be.”  Among the guests on hand was Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher, several Bettendorf aldermen and the chamber’s volunteer ambassadors. The Quad Cities Chamber hosted the ribbon-cutting.   “Congratulations to all your employee owners for continuing to bring great people to work here and pump out those great products,” the mayor said. “Thanks for your continuing investment in the community.”