10/14/2026
🎉 Exciting news! The Material Works has announced a $35 million expansion, bringing new technology, continued investment, and 22 anticipated new jobs to our community. đź‘ŹđźŹ
The Material Works Announces $35 Million Expansion in Red Bud
New Plant 3 will expand TMW’s Red Bud operations, add local jobs, and bring first-of-its-kind steel processing technology to the world.
The Material Works, Ltd. (TMW) has begun investing approximately $35 million in a new Plant 3 processing operation at the Kaskaskia River Port District (KRPD) #2 industrial park, just south of its current Plant 1.
TMW has operated in Red Bud, IL, since 1992. This new 104,000-square-foot Plant 3 will bring
TMW’s total plant space to 515,000 sq ft - nearly 12 acres under roof - and represents a major
investment in the company’s continued growth in the Red Bud area.
Plant 3 will be the home of the world’s first integrated stretcher-leveler cut-to-length + pickling line. In simpler terms, the new operation will allow TMW to unroll steel coils up to 1” thick x 84” wide, weighing up to 90,000 lb—two tractor-trailer loads in one coil—remove surface scale, flatten them to very tight tolerances, and cut them to custom lengths in one highly integrated process. The line will serve companies such as John Deere and Caterpillar.
The “pickling” portion will use TMW’s Eco Pickled Surface (EPS) technology, an environmentally friendly, acid-free pickling process developed and globally patented by TMW right here in southern Illinois.
The new processing line will be the largest of TMW’s eight lines and will be manufactured by our friends at Red Bud Industries (RBI). This will be TMW’s second EPS operation in Red Bud, joining more than 55 EPS units installed at steel processors worldwide.
As part of its continued investment in local infrastructure, TMW has also already invested
approximately $2 million in solar-energy equipment and plans to invest an additional $2 million in conjunction with the Plant 3 project.
TMW currently has 55,000 tons of steel in inventory—roughly the weight of 22,000 SUVs—and processes 75 tractor-trailer loads of steel per day through two existing plants. Steel arrives via barge, rail, and truck. This Plant 3 operation could increase that level by 50%. TMW projects the plant to begin operations in early 2029 and expects to add 22 new teammates as the operation ramps up.
“We were asked to build this new operation in other areas of the country, but we chose the Red
Bud area because of the talented and hard-working people who make up Team TMW”, said
TMW President Kevin Voges. “I am truly honored to be a part of this team. We thank God for His
amazing grace.”
