‘Longtime dream’ – Musco welcomes new fabrication building

MUSCATINE, Iowa – The Musco Lighting company is getting ready for a lot more business. It has just completed building one massive new production facility and more new buildings are on the way. That’s the word from Musco company leaders who helped celebrate the opening of a new 28,000-square-foot pole manufacturing and aluminum fabrication building […]

MUSCATINE, Iowa – The Musco Lighting company is getting ready for a lot more business. It has just completed building one massive new production facility and more new buildings are on the way. That’s the word from Musco company leaders who helped celebrate the opening of a new 28,000-square-foot pole manufacturing and aluminum fabrication building on Monday afternoon, June 10. That celebration included tours of the new building and its many production features as well as a Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce & Industry ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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The new structure – known as Building 11 on the north edge of the Musco’s Muscatine operations on Stewart Road – features state-of-the art equipment, more room for workers to get projects done, and will make it possible for the company to greatly increase the number of poles and associated equipment it makes for its lighting products.  Company officials would not disclose the cost of the new building project. They did say the company’s new building is vital because Musco is getting more customers, more product orders and needs the additional and upgraded space to make more lighting equipment. “This building has been a longtime dream of ours. … We’re just so pleased about this building,” said Carol Ebeling, director of manufacturing at Musco, during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Before the event, Ms. Ebeling told the QCBJ that she is especially proud that the new building has three features that will help Musco workers: a state-of-the-art exhaust system; a great climate-control system that will be welcomed during the hot summer months; and a lot more room to get work done. “This building has wide open space for us,” she added. The new building will be occupied by about 35 to 40 workers, many of them welders. Many of those workers already are now on the job in the building, which was completed and ready to host company projects about two weeks ago. Construction began about a year ago. During a series of tours hosted Monday by Musco employees, workers showed the two sections of the work spaces in the building. One side of the building is devoted to making aluminum boxes that house electrical equipment for lighting. The other side is used for making large poles for the outdoor lighting. “This (building) is going to allow us a lot more flexibility to make these products,” said Brett Murdock, a fabrication coordinator, who was leading one of those tours. He added that flexibility is crucial because this is the busy time of year for the company with many customers needing lighting products. Those many customers are the driving force behind the construction of the new building, said Nick Smith, vice president of manufacturing. He added that he’s pleased with the new building because it sets the Musco team up for continued growth.  However, he also said: “It’s more important what the workers think of the building. … If they’re happy with it, I’m happy.” Many of the welders onhand said they were happy with the building and the company. “It's like a family here. … This building is great because we can get a lot more done in here, especially because of the climate control,” said Jacob Coiner, of Davenport, a Musco welder for about five years, who has been working in the new building for about two weeks. The new fabrication building likely will be just one of several expansion projects at the company in the coming years. Mr. Smith said there are plans to build a 90,000-square-foot new building within the next five years to keep up with company growth.  “This is going to position us for growth,” he added. Currently, Musco has several production buildings in Muscatine totaling almost 380,000 square feet of space, company leaders said. Here is a glimpse of the company:

• History and lighting products: Since 1976, Musco has been the world leader in sports and transportation/infrastructure lighting with innovations in glare reduction and light control responsible to the needs of facility owners, users, neighbors, and the night sky.
• Locations: Musco Lighting is headquartered in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and has Iowa locations in Urbandale, Des Moines and Muscatine as well as across the United States. Globally, Musco has team members in Australia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Mexico, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. 
• Lighting products: The company designs and manufactures sports lighting, transportation and infrastructure lighting. The company has many international, national and local customers. Recently, it helped upgrade the lighting at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport.

• Employees: The company has about 1,700 total employees. Some 1,200 of those employees work in its Iowa facilities including about 500 in Muscatine.