SOUTH SIOUX CITY— McArthur Sheet Metal Works just completed the largest expansion in the company’s more than 80 year history.
“This is the most money we ever spent on an expansion and machinery,” said Dave McArthur, the fourth-generation owner of the South Sioux City-based company.
The family business erected a $1.2 million addition adjacent to its 501 W. Ninth St. facility.
Dave McArthur expects this new offering to create up to three additional jobs — the company already had 10 full-time staff members — in the northeast Nebraska community of about 13,000. That caveat led the city of South Sioux City to provide some economic incentives to help offset initial costs from the project.
McArthur Sheet Metal Works is a custom steel fabrication shop that can accommodate just about any request from a customer, according to Terry McArthur, Dave’s father and the company’s previous owner. Terry McArthur sold the business to his son last year.
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Even prior to taking full ownership of the company, Dave McArthur had been working toward expanding McArthur Sheet Metal Works, which has been located on West Ninth Street since 1978.
“We were out of space in our current fab shop and we needed a new building for the new fiber laser we bought, so we put as big a building as we can fit on this space and we are kind of shoehorned right in here,” he said in an interview last November.
The 6,000-square-foot add-on nearly doubles the manufacturing space for MacArthur Sheet Metal Works and houses the firm’s new fiber laser, which is the latest development in laser cutting technology, according to the product’s manufacturer Bystronic. A state-of-the-art press brake, a machine used to bend sheet metal, also is stored in the new space.
“The laser cuts all kinds of sheet metal shapes and parts and heavy gauge parts to whatever the customer’s specifications are,” Dave McArthur said.
Work on the expansion was supposed to be completed in 2015, but several hiccups, including inclement weather, slowed the project’s progress, Terry McArthur noted.
“It all turned out pretty good finally,” he said.
While overseeing the project was stressful, Dave McArthur also is pleased with how things turned out.
“I’m excited to get all the construction done so we can get the building up and functioning so we can get to work and serve our customers,” he said.
The expansion marks another notable milestone for McArthur Sheet Metal works, which was started by Terry McArthur’s uncle Lloyd McArthur on Fifth and Court in Sioux City in 1935. Shortly after it began, Harold McArthur — Terry’s father and Dave’s grandfather — joined the business and eventually took it over from Lloyd McArthur. Various members of the McArthur clan have remained involved since.
McArthur Sheet Metal Works moved to Nebraska in 1952, however, it was forced to relocate to its current location due to the construction of the Siouxland Veterans Memorial Bridge that spans the Missouri River, linking South Sioux City and Sioux City.
The fact that the 81-year-old company has been able to not only persevere, but grow throughout its history is something both McArthur men are proud of. Terry McArthur, 77, grew up in the business and worked alongside both of its original patriarchs before he assumed full ownership in 1983.
A fifth-generation member of the McArthur family, Dave’s son, Drake, plans to join the business as well. The 20-year-old is studying business at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and works for his father during breaks and in the summer.
Dave McArthur also holds fond memories of growing up around the business. The 48-year-old is happy to provide a similar experience and opportunity he to his descendants.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 16 years old,” he said. “It’s kind of in my blood. I remember back my when me and my little brother were little and used to play hide-and-seek back in the old shop on Dakota Avenue.”
