Lindsay Corp Completed $90 Million Omaha Facility Upgrades
The manufacturer automated its assembly and galvanizing processes to combat labor shortages and improve efficiency.
Updated on Oct. 14, 2026 in Manufacturing
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Lindsay Corporation has finished a three-year, $90 million modernization project at its Omaha manufacturing site. The upgrade includes a new 60,000-square-foot galvanizing facility designed to improve production capacity as the agricultural sector cycles.
Why it matters
This investment addresses critical skilled labor shortages by integrating robotics and semiautomated processes into production lines. It serves as a defensive hedge against agricultural business volatility by increasing throughput efficiency at the factory level.
Lindsay Corporation spent $90 million on facility upgrades over the last three years, expanding its footprint with a new 60,000-square-foot galvanizing facility. The site includes a 50-foot-long galvanizing kettle designed to support its updated, semiautomated production line.
The players
Lindsay Corporation
A global manufacturer of infrastructure and agricultural equipment, including irrigation systems and road safety products.
The details
The facility now utilizes welding and cutting robots for material handling, replacing manual processes to manage coiled steel production. The new galvanizing unit uses a semiautomated dipping process where products are loaded by hand before moving automatically through the bath. Additionally, the company is repurposing its legacy galvanizing plant to serve as a warehouse for contract manufacturing operations.
Timeline
2023-2026: Three-year period of modernization construction.
December 2026: Opening of new galvanizing facility.
Market Landscape
This project aligns with the broader industry effort to automate legacy manufacturing workflows following the post-2020 agricultural manufacturing labor shortage. It marks a strategic shift toward capital-intensive production efficiency to buffer against cyclical market demand.
Owners should assess whether their current manual production workflows can be scaled with semiautomated dipping or robotic welding to lower labor dependency. Watch how this shift in contract manufacturing space impacts local regional service capacity for nearby industrial operators.
The takeaway
Capital modernization is often the primary lever for manufacturers facing permanent skilled labor constraints. Operators should evaluate their own facility layouts to identify which manual processes could be offloaded to semiautomated machinery as a means of future-proofing against cyclical demand.
What happens next
The new 60,000-square-foot galvanizing facility is scheduled to begin operations in December 2026.
Further reading
For more on industry shifts, visit our Manufacturing section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Farm Progress.
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