Small Town Texas

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Barr Fabrication Finds Success in Rural Texas Town

By Lee Burlett

On the Brownwood, Texas economic development Web site (brownwoodtx.com) you can find this: "If you're looking for a change, looking for a place where you can slow down, do the things you love to do, not the things you have to do, then we'd love to have you here in Brownwood. You won't get stuck in traffic or need to take a day off to take a break. You can see the stars at night; you can get away in a matter of minutes; you can get the good life at a great price and a reasonable pace."

Located in the heart of Texas a little more than 100 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Brownwood sells itself to locating industry not so differently than other rural South places; home-spun language that is definitely anti-large market. Or, more precisely, a marketing approach that digs at some of the problems new industry faces with the crowds and other issues found in major metros in the American South.

That approach has apparently worked for Brownwood. In 2005, Barr Fabrication moved its operation to the small town. Barr is owned by Sandra and Bo Barr. After launching the job shop company in a peanut warehouse in Cross Plains, Tex. in 2000, Sandra and Bo were barely making ends meet three years later. They stumbled upon a company that was in dire need of wind tower mechanical internals. They took a purchase order of 134 towers on the spot but had no idea how they would complete the order. Somehow they got the job done on time and under budget.

After fulfilling the order, Barr and the city of Brownwood benefited from the growth in the renewable wind energy industry -- growing at a pace seen before in that state many times over, ironically, by the non-renewable oil industry.  It should be noted that Texas is the nation's largest wind energy-generating state by a wide margin. More than 8-gigawatts of electricity are produced in Texas by wind farms.

So, as the wind energy business grew in Texas, so did Barr Fabrication. "In 2005 we moved our operation to Brownwood," said Sandra. "We built an 18,000-square-foot shop and had no idea how we would fill it up. Fortunately, the wind boom hit in 2005 and the building was full before we even opened the doors." Today, Barr employs over 100 workers in Brownwood in about 50,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space. The company has expanded into the manufacturing of components for wind, petrochemical, solar and many other energy industries. Some of its clients include GE Energy, Siemens, Mitsubishi and Trinity Industries.

James Campbell, the executive director of the Brownwood Economic Development Corp. said, “The Brownwood community is proud of the company, its owners and employees. The relocation of Barr Fabrication LLC to Brownwood is a great example of the best efforts of the company’s owners and local community organizations to create new jobs for our area.”

Sandra Barr says that "Through the years, we have developed an exceptional relationship with our local and state government organizations. The City of Brownwood, Brownwood Economic Development Corp., Brownwood Chamber of Commerce and Workforce Solutions of West Central Texas have been key players in our success. Without the support of our community we would still be in a peanut warehouse. We feel at home in Brownwood and we look forward to a long and rewarding relationship," Sandra said.