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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

K&B Machine Works Plans $40 Million Expansion to Its Louisiana Pipe Fabricating Operation

03/06/2012
K&B Machine Works, an oilfield pipeline fabricator, will invest $40 million to build a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Terrebonne Parish, near the Gulf Coast town of Schriever, Louisiana.

The site is already home to the firm's 42,000-square-foot customer inventory building. Plant construction is expected to create 80 jobs averaging $50,000 in annual pay for the roughly one-year construction term, translating into a $4 million construction payroll, K&B President Kenneth Wood Jr. said.

In qualifying for state economic development incentives, K&B agreed to retain 190 current jobs, while consolidating its manufacturing operation at the new site and to create 19 new jobs. "K&B's growth has exceeded expectations. The company's employment has grown to 220 and K&B expects to employ as many as 240 by the beginning of 2013. That's a net gain of 50 new jobs that will pay an average of $48,000 a year, plus benefits," Wood added.

The upgrade qualifies K&B for Louisiana's Modernization Tax Credit, which provides a 5 percent refundable tax credit to companies that invest at least $5 million and achieve at least a 10 percent efficiency gain. In addition to that $2 million incentive, K&B is expected to utilize Louisiana's Enterprise Zone and Industrial Tax Exemption programs. The company expects to move from its current Houma, Louisiana, location to the 35-acre Schriever site in early 2013.

"When my dad started K&B Machine, he did it with one idea in mind: that providing the industry with the best-made precision products and the best combination of services was the key to success," Wood Jr. explained. "K&B's growth has been a direct result of our dedicated employees and the diverse services that we offer in every division. Combined with high safety and quality standards, this has made K&B the one-stop shop."

Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "With a major facility in Texas and new operations in Pennsylvania, K&B could have looked elsewhere to make this major step in the growth of the company. K&B leaders chose Louisiana because of our strong business climate and, most importantly, a dedicated local work force that has perfected the craft of oilfield pipe fabrication for nearly 40 years. K&B will benefit not only from traditional oil and gas exploration in Louisiana, but from new formations, such as the Haynesville and Tuscaloosa shales, that will drive additional demand for oilfield pipe fabrication and services."

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