Oxlean to Invest $2.1M to Expand Steel Fabrication Facility in Walker

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Oxlean Manufacturing LLC announced this month that it plans to invest $2.1 million to expand and modernize its steel fabrication facility in Walker. The project will create 73 new jobs.

Oxlean specializes in steel fabrication and manufacturing for a broad range of applications in the petrochemical, oil and gas production and commercial construction sectors. It acquired the Walker facility earlier this year. According to the company, the $2.1 million project will expand the manufacturing facilities on the five-acre site by 75 percent, resulting in 28,000 square feet of production area. It will also include the installation of advanced robotic technology, along with the use of affiliated, sophisticated software to expand and modernize the company’s production of steel products.

In addition to creating 73 new jobs, Oxlean also said it will retain 27 existing jobs at the facility. The average annual salary for an Oxlean employee is $55,000, plus benefits. Oxlean has already started hiring new employees. It expects to add 23 new jobs by the end of 2015 and to reach full employment over the next decade.

Louisiana Economic Development said the project will also create 122 new indirect jobs. LED’s Business Expansion and Retention Group started talks with Oxlean about the expansion last July. The state of Louisiana offered the company a competitive incentive package in order to secure the project. It includes a $200,000 performance-based Economic Development Award Program forgivable loan to offset building and site improvement costs, as well as LED’s FastStart workforce development program, and Quality Jobs and industrial  Tax Exemption programs.

“Oxlean Manufacturing’s new steel expansion is more proof that business is booming in Louisiana. More and more companies are investing here in our state and helping continue our economic growth, and this expansion is one more strong vote of confidence for our oil and gas industry and skilled energy and manufacturing workforce. Oxlean’s investment will create great new jobs in Livingston Parish for years to come and will help Louisiana continue to be the best place in the world to pursue a great career and raise a family,” Governor Bobby Jindal said in a statement for the press.

Construction and equipment installation are already underway at the Walker facility. Oxlean expects to finish the project by the third quarter of 2016.