WEBB CITY, Mo. —
There is a lot going on at Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Co. these days.
Not only is the company celebrating 60 years of existence this year, but it also has expanded amid an economic downturn and will be featured next month on a television show.
Cardinal Scale, a leading manufacturer of truck scales, celebrated all that and more Wednesday morning with a ribbon-cutting and tour of its new building at Daugherty Street and Devon Avenue in Webb City. Founded in 1950 by W.H. Perry, the company is now run by his son, David Perry.
“It has been part of our family for 60 years, and we’d just like to keep it that way,” Perry said.
Click here to learn more about Cardinal Scale, its history and products.
The new 25,000-square-foot manufacturing site was built primarily to accommodate specialty and custom-ordered truck scales, said plant manager Matt Stovern. The new building allows the company to streamline operations — such as robotics-welding production — located in its other buildings, he said.
Perry said plans for expansion might not be over. He isn’t ruling out building another site north of Cardinal Scale within a few years.
“As the economy grows, we’ll need more capacity,” he said.
Cardinal Scale also will be featured on a segment of the television show “World’s Greatest!” with “plenty to offer and a great story to tell,” Gordon Freeman, executive producer, said in a news release.
Cardinal Scale spokesman Jonathan Sabo said crew members from Crown Point Productions, the show’s producers, were in Webb City about two weeks ago and shot five to six hours of footage, which they plan to edit into a three- to four-minute segment.
The episode is scheduled to air sometime in August on the Ion Television channel. The video, once it airs, also will be uploaded to Cardinal Scale’s website, Sabo said.
City plans
City officials also were on hand at the ribbon-cutting to promote plans to develop land near the Cardinal Scale plant. Mayor John Biggs said he anticipates the eventual construction of a new interchange along Missouri Highway 171 as well as a new road just east of the manufacturing plant, which he hopes will help trucks entering and leaving the plant site.
That area also is expected to one day house a Route 66-themed welcome park for visitors, said Chuck Surface, the city’s economic development director.
“We’re going to beautify this area by knocking down that house over there,” said Surface, pointing to a structure across the street from the plant. “We’re going to have a nice little Route 66 entrance park right there.”
Cardinal Scale already has taken advantage of those plans, installing a 55-foot lighted sign — featuring the phrase “Welcome to Webb City” and an image of the Route 66 road sign — on the east wall of its new building. That sign can be seen by westbound drivers as they enter Webb City from Highway 171, Sabo said.
Global impact
Cardinal Scale, which employs 400 people locally, sells its scales worldwide. The company also has branches in Georgia and Florida, and warehouses in Canada and England.
