Evansville company designs, manufactures steel structures
Excerpted from Janesville Gazette
By Gina Duwe
The manufacturing company is tucked behind downtown Evansville on Water Street, but its products are visible throughout the area.
Varco Pruden Buildings has designed and built the structures for places you drive by or occasionally visit, including Movies 16, the Rock Prairie Dairy and the Evansville Piggly Wiggly.
The company is one of the largest employers in Evansville and considers itself a world leader in the pre-engineered steel construction industry. Evansville is one of the company’s five U.S. offices. It is headquartered in Memphis, Tenn.
“The last couple years we’ve seen an uptick in business,” said Rod Huse, regional general manager.
The company employs about 60 in the office, where engineers design custom orders on computers. Designs are sent across the parking lot to the production plant, where about 160 workers build the pieces. Huse compared it to a giant erector set. When all the materials arrive at the building site, crews follow the drawing, which shows how the pieces connect together.
One thing that separates the Evansville facility from its competition is the longevity of its workers, Huse said. Many senior people have been with the company 30 to 40 years.
The plant is doing a lot of hiring, LaMothe said, but it still has many workers with a lot of experience.
“I’m here 15 years, and I’m the new guy,” he said.
