Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Executive DirectorCliff Brumfield and county supervisors met Thursday morning withReed’s Metals, Inc. owner Bernard Reeds to discuss his company’srecent expansion and the potential benefits it may bring to thecounty’s economy.

“Any time that we have expansion of the magnitude of that atReed’s Metals, it warrants us getting up to speed on theirinvestments and the improvements they’ve made,” Brumfield said.”Our local leaders always like to stay apprised of what’s happeningwith our local business base.”

As the first step in a plan to expand its market from aresidential to a commercial construction base, Reed’s Metalsrecently added a 28,800-square-foot building in which to houseseveral new pieces of equipment that are forthcoming.

“Now, we have a lot more machinery, more room for the commercialside of the business,” Reed said.

The company will soon possess new equipment to streamline andincrease its ability to manufacture metal roofs and buildings,including one machine that will snap-lock panels together forincreased wind resistance. The 140 mph wind tolerance of the panelshas increased Reed’s Metals’ sales in coastal areas.

The company is also purchasing new software that containsinformation on the building codes for every county in the country.By entering a ZIP code of a proposed building site into thesoftware, the company can design a structure in accordance with anarea’s building codes and quote an estimate to the buyer in aslittle as 20 minutes.

These and other advancements are helping Reed’s Metals expandinto the markets of other states.

“We’re really optimistic about being able to grow our businessanother 20 percent over last year,” Reed said. “We’re hoping that,by the end of the year, we’ll be able to expand up from 16 to 25employees. We’ll be able to bring a lot of business in from out ofstate and put a lot of tax money back into the county.”

Though Reed’s Metals is not the type of massive industrycommonly associated with economic development, Brumfield said suchcompanies play in an important part in the county’s economy.

“We’re concerned about our small, one- or two-employee retailersand other businesses as much as we are about large employers,” hesaid. “They do have an impact on our economy on several levels.

“It’s these types of industries that provide the majority of theemployment that fuels our local economy,” he continued. “Every day,people and other businesses travel to Reed’s Metals to do business,and that exposes them to other businesses in Lincoln County. Reed’sMetals’ business is not only good for Reed’s Metals, it haspositive benefits for our other businesses.”

After a brief tour of the company’s facilities and an quickexamination of the machinery within, the county supervisorsapproved of the progress being made.

“I like that forward progress, ” District Two Supervisors BobbyJ. Watts said. “I think they’re doing a great job. This companyreaches four states wide. It goes good for our state and county -they’re automated, their product stands out and they’re fromLincoln County.”