FabArc Steel Supply

FabArc Steel Supply is a structural steel fabricator founded in 1979 and based in Oxford, Alabama, with a second plant in Decatur. It employs more than 300 people and says it can turn out over 50,000 tons a year. Its shops cut, drill, punch and blast steel, build plate girders and fabricate ASME code vessels, and its main markets are automotive, manufacturing and industrial, healthcare, and commercial and government work. FabArc fabricated the structural steel for T1 Energy’s G2_Austin solar cell plant in Rockdale, Texas: about 3,374 tons, including 749 columns, 4,459 beams and 222 roof trusses. W.G. Yates & Sons is general contractor and PBI Inc. is erecting the steel.

The certifications are the part a structural engineer or general contractor will check first, and FabArc lists them on its own homepage: AISC certification as a fabrication facility, the AISC Standard for Steel Building Structures, Simple Steel Bridges with a Fracture Critical Endorsement, a Sophisticated Paint Coating Endorsement, ASME certification, and a Small Business Certification.

The fracture critical endorsement is the one that narrows the field. It permits fabrication of members whose failure would cause a span to collapse, and it is a separate qualification from standard bridge work. The paint coating endorsement covers shop-applied systems to a higher specification than a standard shop primer.

Two addresses are published: 111 Meadow Lane in Oxford, and the North Shop at 143 Old Highway 24 in Decatur. There is a discrepancy worth noting for anyone sizing up capacity — the about page describes three manufacturing plants totalling 435,000 square feet, while the site footer still carries an earlier figure of two plants and over 275,000 square feet. Either way, the workforce figure is consistent at more than 300 skilled employees, and the company states its supervisors and managers average over 25 years of experience.

FabArc is 100% employee owned.

Project work is organised into four markets: automotive, commercial and government, healthcare, and manufacturing and industrial. Sales enquiries go to sales@fabarc.com or 256-831-8770, with mail to P.O. Box 7280, Oxford, AL 36203.