Metal fabrication company marks opening of North Las Vegas plant

An Ohio-based metal fabrication company shifted into full production Tuesday after opening a new plant in North Las Vegas this year.

American Roll Form celebrated the addition of a third production line that would boost its daily production to 200,000 pounds, nearly double its current rate. The company also planned to increase the staff of its North Las Vegas plant from 18 employees to 25 by the end of July.

Though the company makes everything from handles on caskets to side rails on gurneys, 80 percent of the output from the plant, which began production in April, will cater to the solar industry. Throughout the 40,000-square-foot building, stacks of metal pilings, or beams, that were created to support solar panels are ready for shipment.

“A lot of products we produced were coming out this way, so it made a lot of sense to bring the product out,” said General Manager Dave Zaragoza.

The company previously depended on shipping from its two other plants in Painesville, Ohio, where the company is based.

Zaragoza said the company considered Salt Lake City and Phoenix before settling on the Las Vegas area as the location for its first expansion into the West. Tax incentives were too attractive to pass up, he said.

“Las Vegas greeted us with open arms, helping in getting us to come, so it was an easy choice,” he said.

American Roll Form received $280,000 in tax abatements from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

North Las Vegas Councilwoman Anita Wood lauded the arrival of the fabrication plant and the city’s venture “to have diversification in our economy, to have new businesses opening up and to take advantage of the assets that North Las Vegas has to offer.”

She pointed to numerous benefits — a cooperative economic development office, easy access to Interstate 15, low transportation costs and a strategic regional location — as draws for company relocation and expansion.

Manufacturing of fabricated metal products grew 3 percent since the previous year, according to a June report on industrial production from the Federal Reserve. American Roll Form said its growth from last year was 14 percent, and there was already talk of expanding more throughout the region.

“We consider this to be the first cog in our expanding wheel, so we definitely don’t consider this our only expansion,” Zaragoza said.

Contact Melissah Yang at myang@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.