New manufacturing operation and experienced workforce advance Kloeckner’s continued focus on higher value-added solutions beginning January 1, 2026
Kloeckner Metals Corporation (KMC) announced today the start of manufacturing operations at the former Bauer Built Manufacturing site in Paton, Iowa, expanding the company’s heavy fabrication capabilities. Effective January 1, 2026, KMC will lead all commercial, manufacturing, and other operational activities at the site.
The Paton facility, which will operate as Kloeckner Manufacturing Services, builds on a long-standing manufacturing foundation while extending the company’s ability to serve agricultural and industrial customers with heavy fabrication and higher value-added solutions.
Key Facts
- Workforce continuity and growth: Kloeckner has retained the Bauer Built Manufacturing workforce to ensure operational continuity.
- Expanded heavy fabrication capabilities: The 300,000-square-foot Paton facility enhances the company’s ability to deliver heavy fabrication, welding, assembly, and complex finishing solutions for agricultural and industrial customers.
- First in-house painting operation: The site introduces Kloeckner’s first in-house industrial painting capability, enabling the company to deliver painted subassemblies as part of fully integrated, end-to-end manufacturing solutions for OEM customers.
Expanding Kloeckner’s Capabilities While Preserving a Manufacturing Legacy
- Builds on a proven manufacturing operation founded by Vaughn Bauer in the early 1980s, bringing more than 40 years of agricultural and industrial fabrication experience into Kloeckner’s network.
- Adds advanced heavy fabrication expertise across welding, hydraulics, assembly, and in-house industrial painting capabilities, marking the company’s first fully integrated manufacturing operation capable of delivering painted subassemblies.
- With the addition of in-house painting, Kloeckner Manufacturing Services enables OEM customers to consolidate suppliers and streamline production, offering a true one-stop solution from coil to painted subassembly, ready for final assembly.
- Introduces in-house engineering and fixturing capabilities that support custom designs, modifications to existing prints, and the manufacture of products from pre-existing prints.
- Strengthens the company’s higher value-added execution across infrastructure, data centers, agriculture, construction, mining, and truck and trailer end markets.
- Creates additional capacity and flexibility to support heavy fabrication and higher value-added solutions across Kloeckner’s broader North American network.
“The start of operations in Paton builds on a strong manufacturing foundation while expanding how we support our customers,” said John Ganem, CEO, Kloeckner Metals Corporation. “By bringing heavy fabrication and in-house painting together under one roof, we’re creating a more integrated manufacturing solution that simplifies supply chains and supports agricultural and industrial customers with high-quality fabricated solutions.”
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