July 6, 2026
Lexicon Inc.’s new robotics line (Arkansas Business, June 22) is already inspiring other players in the steel industry. The Little Rock steel fabricator has kept its shops open to other companies, inviting them to tour its AGT Robotics BLOK 500 system in Blytheville, according to COO Steve Grandfield.
The company has always let others tour its shops, Grandfield said, a policy he frames as good for the whole industry.
“We’ve never been shy as a company after we bring new technology to let our competitors come in and see it, because at the end of the day, we want to make the steel industry better,” Grandfield said. “If we can support the steel industry as a whole, (that) makes the building of different things cheaper and more efficient and faster, then the cycle continues, and we are able to support more projects. Owners are more likely to use steel as an option.”
Grandfield told Whispers that one of the first companies to tour the new line has already purchased a product similar to Lexicon’s system. He also said a company from Europe flew into Blytheville to tour Lexicon’s plant and ended up purchasing a robotics system as well.
“We’re in business to be successful, but we do want to bring the industry and the community along with us too,” Bill Fitzgerald, Lexicon’s vice president of marketing and communications, said. “We’re still the leader.”
