New CMC owner a pioneer
New Millennium Building Systems produces joists, girders and decking for non-residential construction. The former CMC operations in Hope will become part of the New Millennium subsidiary.
With construction shipments of steel comprising some 42 percent of SDI's total product mix, New Millennium has shown an improving position in the company's bottom line, according to SDI's second quarter, 2010, report in July.
Steel fabrication shipping tonnage increased 63 percent during the quarter, producing a $2 million improvement over the first quarter in a segment that went from a $7 million operating loss to a $5 million loss, overall, from the first quarter, according to the July report.
In 2007, the company bought OmniSource Corporation, a leading ferrous scrap processor, which operated 42 locations in the U. S. and Canada, boosting its steel products to more than 50 percent of its metal resources, according to the company website.
The announcement Tuesday of the CMC acquisition was greeted with immediate praise from local leaders.
“It's something that we've been anticipating, but you sure can't count the jobs until there is an announcement,” Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey said. “It is good news for Hope, Hempstead County, and the entire Southwest Arkansas area. Hopefully, the manufacturing engine that is part of our economy is starting to move.”
Ramsey said the announcement, coupled with recent announcements concerning CPI Holdings, LLC, operations, the anticipated startup of AmeriTies South, LLC, and a proposed development in the industrial park, are signs that Hope is holding its own in the middle of a bad economy.
“It's the result of a lot of hard work,” he said. “Hats off to Wesley Woodard and the EDC, to New Millennium and John Robins.”
Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mark Keith was in agreement.
“I think this is really going to perk our community up,” Keith said. “That is outstanding. It is something our community has been hoping for and holding its collective breath about.”
CMC had announced a layoff of most of its remaining employees in January, prior to the decision to close the facility altogether when the company left the joist business in March.
At its peak, the local facility had employed some 400 workers.
