BUFFALO TWP — For more than 35 years, Dynamic Ceramics has been helping to make welds stronger.

The company makes ceramic insulators — called arc shields or ferrules. Stud manufacturers buy the shields and send them out with the studs to contractors.

“That’s maybe 95 percent of our business,” said plant manager Justin Oertel.

The arc shields are disposable ceramic pieces that insulate the base of the studs. Oertel said ceramic insulators are used to hold the molten steel close to the base of the stud so that when it sets, it stays close to the base rather than running out — which molten metal would otherwise do.

This makes a stronger weld. Once the bolts are cooled, the shields are broken off. These arc shields come in different shapes and sizes. The company makes 60 to 75 million per year.

The other five percent of the business includes electric insulators and fragrance discs.

The company was founded in 1980 by Darl Beer, who is still the owner and Oertel’s grandfather.

Beer had worked in the ceramic industry but lost his job. He then decided to start his own business.

“I started in my basement with one press,” Beer said.

He was in his basement for about nine months in 1980, when he bought a few more presses and rented a former gas station on Route 356 for his business. When that building was filled with equipment, Beer knew he had to find another place.

So, in 1986, Beer moved to his current property which is now next to Oberg Industries. At the time, he had about 15 employees. The building was 48-feet-by-90-feet. But in 1989, it was destroyed by fire. The facility was rebuilt near the original site and has seen several additions since.

The business has always been a family affair. Beer’s daughter, Darla, Oertel’s mother, is the office manager, and Beer’s son, Terry, Oertel’s uncle, is the vice president. Oertel’s brother, Michael, runs the die shop. Terry’s son, David, works in the mixing department.

Oertel started working at the company when he was 13 to pay for hockey.

“I started painting the lunchroom, painting the bathrooms. When there wasn’t anything left to paint, then (Beer) trained me in the die shop,” Oertel said.

He learned all aspects of the business from Beer. When he was home during summers from college, he would work in different areas of the company.

“Pretty much every job I’ve worked at one point or another,” Oertel said.

He said the family members there have their specific areas they take care of, but Oertel said they all basically are able to do any job in the plant. Oertel, 34, became plant manager in 2008.

At age 84, Beer still shows up to work at 7 a.m.

“I want to keep on living. You quit working and sit down, you know what happens,” Beer said. “I enjoy working, and I enjoy ceramics.”

Oertel agreed.

“This is really what he enjoys,” Oertel said. “This isn’t work to him.”

Oertel said the company has taken on more international customers over the years.

“We’ve gone more global,” Oertel said.

He said the company always had customers in Mexico and Canada, but has also done sales in Australia, France, South Africa, England and the Netherlands.

In 2011 and 2012, when the U.S. economy was still struggling, Oertel said the international customers helped keep the company afloat.

There can be issues with international customers. For example, he said Dynamic had had a long relationship with a customer in Mexico. Dynamic sent it a big order, and the customer sent partial payment, but then went silent.

Oertel said Dynamic Ceramics tried to get in touch with the Mexican business, but was unsuccessful. Internationally, the company does not have much recourse to recover money that it is owed, he said.

“That’s just a risk we’re willing to take in order to grow the business,” Oertel said.

Domestically, he said one change has been that customers used to keep large numbers of parts on hand. Now, with a less vibrant economy and more uncertainty, they sometimes ask for parts to be sent periodically rather than getting a big order.

“The stock that sits on their floor, that’s cash to them. They want to maintain a better cash flow, so they do it that way,” Oertel said.

He said plant technology has largely remained the same.

“It’s a simple machinery that’s out there, but it is efficient,” Oertel said.

Because it is simple, he said the company is able to do most maintenance in-house.

“Simple really works for us because it is less to operate and less downtime when something does go bad,” Oertel said.

Without “million dollar machines,” the company relies on its employees to create a high-quality product.

“We rely on labor and people, that’s our best asset,” Oertel said. “We want to employ people here. We don’t want to employ machines.”

Beer said this philosophy applies to customer service as well.

“If anyone calls, they’re going to get to talk to someone. We don’t have an answering service,” Beer said.

Oertel said the worst part of his job is having to lay people off when work is slow. Right now, he said the company is in one of its down cycles. When construction picks up, so will business.

Despite the ups and downs, he said turnover is not that high. He noted that one employee has been with the company since 1986.

“We try to foster an environment that keeps the morale high,” Oertel said. “I believe happy employees are productive employees.”

He said Dynamic tries to do little things to show workers they are appreciated.

“Once they are gone, disgruntled and they hate their job, it doesn’t matter what you do — you can’t bring them back,” Oertel said.

Looking ahead, Oertel said, “The future, I think it’s bright. We have a lot of companies that rely very heavily on us.”

He looks at Dynamic Ceramics as Beer’s legacy, and said he wants it to be a place where his children can grow up and work.