Arkansas Business

Central Moloney Inc.

Central Moloney Inc. of Pine Bluff, founded in 1949 as Larkin Lectro Products Co., builds electric distribution transformers and their components. 

The company has five main transformer product lines, with most of those transformers used in new residential construction. But the company also builds and sells "three-phase" units, used in commercial and industrial applications like shopping centers and apartment complexes.

In its early years as Larkin Lectro, the company built welding equipment for the old Arkansas Power & Light Co. When AP&L needed transformers, Larkin built them, eventually becoming Central Transformer Corp., moving to solely manufacturing electric distribution transformers.

In 1965, Central Transformer acquired Moloney Electric of St. Louis and the company changed its name to Central Moloney Transformer Corp. Colt Industries bought Central Transformer in 1968. Colt eventually became Coltec Industries with Central Moloney Transformer Division serving as one of Coltec's several subsidiaries.

In late 1993, Bo Siever was among a group of top managers and other investors who sought to buy Central Moloney from Coltec. Their offer was accepted, and in 1994 the privately owned, Arkansas-based company acquired the name it bears today: Central Moloney Inc.

In 2010, its revenue rose to $110 million, up 25 percent increase from the $88 million it reported in 2009.

In March 2011, the company announced a $12 million 150,000-SF expansion adjacent to its current 400,000-SF transformer plant. The expansion was expected to add at least 200 jobs to its workforce of 550.