With a ‘Yahoo!’ Noise Solutions Ramps Up Operations
SHARON, Pa. -- Mercer County dignitaries were treated to a bit of western Canadian prairie charm Tuesday as a "white hat" ceremony kicked off a Calgary-based company's new operations here.
Observing a Calgary tradition, honored guests were asked to wear white Smithbilt cowboy hats, raise their right hand, and take an oath promising to spread the fun-loving Calgary "brand of hospitality to all folks and critters who cross my trail hereafter," concluding with a loud "Yahoo!"
With this pledge, Noise Solutions Inc. is now officially in business.
The company, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, recently purchased and renovated a vacant warehouse on Vine Street once owned by Winner International. The warehouse is the company's sole manufacturing operation in the United States.
"At this facility, we'll be eventually manufacturing the complete gamut of Noise Solutions products," reports Scott MacDonald, president and CEO. The company makes noise-suppression equipment used in various industries – especially the oil and gas business.
And it's this business that drew Noise Solutions to Sharon, MacDonald says, as oil and gas exploration in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively continues to accelerate and evolve.
"Roughly 65% of our U.S. business came out of this area last year," he reports. "I really see this area as just ripe for explosive growth."
The drive of the United States to become self-sufficient in the energy industry -- coal-fired plants transitioning to operations fueled by natural gas, plus a growing and lucrative foreign market -- all bode well for the industry in this region, the CEO notes.
MacDonald says the plant began operations in November and employs about 35 people, but that number is likely to rise as demand for its products increases. “Our goal when we opened this facility was 125 within the next three years,” he reports. “But, if things keep going the way we anticipate then we'll trump that hopefully.”
Projected investment for the project is estimated at $4.2 million.
The company provides noise suppression-services that include planning, engineering, manufacturing and installing equipment designed to mitigate industrial-level noise. Aside from the oil and gas industry, Noise Solutions also does work for the aerospace, mining, power generation, construction, marine, forestry and defense industries.
Noise Solutions' 55,000–square-foot plant here, as well as a sister manufacturing operation in Alberta, manufacture products such as silencers for cooler fans and engine exhausts, acoustical building ventilation systems, modular buildings designed to house compressors or other machinery, and acoustical "doghouses" built to accommodate smaller equipment.
MacDonald reports that his company's products meet all the needs of the region's oil and gas industry: "From drilling stages, to well sites, to compressor stations, to gas transmission lines – that's been our goal since we started, a turnkey operation."
Noise Solutions opened a sales office in Denver and staffs another sales office in Pittsburgh, but has operated in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio for about two years, he says.
Randy Seitz, CEO of Penn-Northwest Development Corp., credited a host of players who helped bring this project to fruition, citing the many government agencies, personalities, incentives programs and initiatives that led to the successful launch of the plant.
"Economic development works when people come together," Seitz told the audience at the ceremony.
He also pointed to the many local sources for materials used in the plant, noting that most of the suppliers are companies from the region or just across the border in Ohio. "When a company comes in, they buy supplies locally. They make improvements to the property. They buy services locally," he says.
C. Alan Walker, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, told guests that the Noise Solutions project served as a "great model" for establishing public/private partnerships: "We helped with employee training, some site preparation, some equipment purchases. So we have a series of programs for economic development. We put enough in to give the project credibility."
The willingness of the state, development agencies, and municipal and county governments to work together made the difference in landing this company, Walker says. "They saw that we were serious about economic development."
Much of this new development is tied to the oil and gas industry, which Walker says is beginning to have an impact on business across the commonwealth. "Manufacturing is making a comeback in Pennsylvania," he declared.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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