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Joplin's Boyd Metals Announces 9 Million Dollar Expansion

Fred Fletcher-Fierro
Boyd employees signing a metel beam that will be used in the expansion

Governor Mike Parson made a rare visit to Joplin Thursday to announce the 100,000-square-foot expansion. Parson also touted the 83,000 new jobs in Missouri over the past 12 months adding that the jobs were not people returning to work from the pandemic, but brand new employees.

Boyd Metals announced a nine million dollar expansion Thursday with Missouri Governor Mike Parson on hand to mark the occasion.

KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

The metal service provider announced yesterday that it will expand in Joplin, investing more than $9 million and creating 12 jobs.

The company is expanding its existing 60,000-square-foot facility to more than 100,000 square feet to increase efficiency and distribution across its Midwestern network. Boyd, which is headquartered in nearby Fort Smith Arkansas was founded in 1991 and was acquired at the end of 2021 by Russell Metals.

General Manager of Boyd’s Joplin location Audie Dennis spoke about what the expansion via state funding will mean for the company.

Boyd's Audie Dennis speaking at the expansion annoucement
Fred Fletcher-Fierro
Boyd's Audie Dennis speaking at the expansion annoucement

“But this expansion and 9.3 million dollar project will include state-of-the-art laser processing equipment upon completion. It will increase our footprint to 111,000 square feet and we’ll add a dozen quality good paying jobs to the Joplin workforce.”

For this expansion, Boyd Metals will benefit from the Missouri Works program, a tool that helps companies expand and retain workers by providing access to capital through withholdings or tax credits for job creation.

Currently, Boyd Metals has five stocking warehouse and sales office locations in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

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Since 2017 Fred Fletcher-Fierro has driven up Highway 171 through thunderstorms, downpours, snow, and ice storms to host KRPS’s Morning Edition. He’s also a daily reporter for the station, covering city government, elections, public safety, arts, entertainment, culture, sports and more. Fred has also spearheaded and overseen a sea change in programming for KRPS from a legacy classical station to one that airs a balance of classical, news, jazz, and cultural programming that better reflects the diverse audience of the Four States. For over two months in the fall of 2022 he worked remotely with NPR staff to relaunch krps.org to an NPR style news and information website.

In the fall of 2023 Fred was promoted to Interim General Manager and was appointed GM in Feburary of 2024.