Manufacturing not lost, but shift in industry seen
While manufacturing in Butler County is still alive, the complexion of industry has largely changed since 1968.
For most of the 20th century, manufacturing jobs were the most plentiful in the county's many factories both large and small.
AK Steel, formerly Armco, plus Pullman-Standard in Butler Township, in addition to Spang and Co. and Magnetics in East Butler employed thousands during Butler County's industrial years.
The family-sustaining wages allowed workers to spread out to the then-rural townships, buy a home and live the American dream.
But a nationwide drop-off in steel production and other factors in the early 1980s had a significant effect on the county's longtime industrial stature.
The 1982 closing of Pullman-Standard, which cranked out rail cars for almost a century at the site of the current Pullman Center Business Park, was a devastating blow to employment in the county.
Spang purchased Magnetics in 1968 and closed its manufacturing facility in East Butler in 1986 due to a drop in oil well drilling, according to the Spang website.
Once large production centers, Magnetics currently has a distribution center in East Butler, and Spang Engineered Solutions is headquartered in Pittsburgh, according to their websites.
Armco was able to survive the early 1980s because of a capital investment plan 20 years before that funded the addition of a new melt shop complex, silicon department, steel processing facility and central maintenance complex at the Butler plant, plus a continuous caster in 1982 that made the plant the first flat-rolled specialty steel plant in the U.S. to continuously cast 100 percent of its product, according to information provided by AK Steel headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
AK bought Armco in 1999 and has continued to upgrade the plant to ensure it remains a world-class manufacturer of specialty steel, according to AK headquarters.
Bob Dandoy, who has served on numerous boards and committees in Butler, said Pullman-Standard was on a steady decline since the interstate system and airplane travel gained ground in the mid-20th century.
“The demand just wasn't there for what they were making,” Dandoy said.
He said better, more affordable ways to accomplish actions have always and will continue to cause businesses to disappear.
“At one point in time, Bell Telephone was a big industry,” Dandoy said. “Now there's barely a phone company alive because of cell service.”He said when that happens, as it did with Pullman-Standard and other manufacturers in the 1980s, communities must change and grow along with the times.Although it has been 36 years, Dandoy said he still hears county residents bemoan the exit of Pullman-Standard as Butler's death knell.“It's time to get over Pullman's closing,” Dandoy said. “Like many other communities, Butler needs to redefine itself.”He said in the late 1960s and early 1970s, workers and their families moved out of the city and into the suburbs.“Now everyone is saying we're bored with that and we want more of an urban feel,” Dandoy said. “In our downtown, we're now seeing more businesses with this feel.”The use of the land where the mighty train car factory once stood, Dandoy feels, could be improved.He said while the Pullman Office Park is a positive, the land between the office park and Route 8 is prime property for the right use.Dandoy called the Pullman Square strip mall “a disaster” and a “vacant, empty ghost town.”“But (the former Pullman property) going toward Route 8 is ripe for the picking,” he said. “We would just have to find the right fit there.”Dandoy said one element left over from Butler County's industrial years is its workforce.He said if a large company were to come into the county, they would find excellent employees locally.The county also boasts the features that a large company or industry looks for when scouting location, Dandoy said.Good public and parochial schools, a thriving community college, a university, a top-notch health system and a vibrant arts and social community are all available in Butler County, he said.Joe Saeler, the interim executive director at the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, said he has seen office jobs and the medical industry increase in the county since the decline of manufacturing.He said placing the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township where the old sintering plant stood was “a game changer.”Large companies like Bayer, Aldi and Brayman Construction in the industrial park are providing more than $1 million in tax revenue as opposed to the $60,000 of years past, Saeler said.He also marveled at the explosion of growth in Cranberry Township since the late 1980s. In 1968, Cranberry was just another rural township within Butler County, Saeler said.“It's amazing,” he said. “I can remember it just being cornfields left and right.”Today, Cranberry Township offers everything in the way of restaurants, shops, offices, services, educational facilities and access to major highways.
The addition of the Lemieux Center, Saeler said, was another boon for the township.“Hats off to (township manager) Jerry Andree and his team in developing Cranberry,” Saeler said.Other benefits over the past 50 years, Saeler said, have been the continued improvement of AK Steel that makes the plant viable, an increase in human services through the county and the constant improvement at Butler Health System.“Butler Memorial Hospital is nothing but a great asset to the community,” Saeler said.While manufacturing jobs have declined in the county over the past 50 years, Saeler said the technological, medical and office jobs that have replaced them are no better or worse.“With changes, you create jobs,” he said.The machining and technological industries have also taken a foothold in the county since 1968.While Penn United Technologies in Jefferson Township is a leading manufacturer for industries like oil and gas, medical, defense and aerospace, automotive, electronics and more, the company started out in 1971 with three machinists who decided to open a small machine shop near Saxonburg.Carl Jones, Robert Becker and Charles Barton, according to the company's website, credited their “why not us” attitude with laying the foundation of today's Penn United at the intersection of Bonniebrook Road and Route 356.Penn United employs almost 600 men and women today.Butler Technologies on West Wayne Street was the brainchild of founders William Darney and Nadine Tripodi, who began in 1990 by manufacturing labels, nameplates and membrane switches as well as serving as a print brokerage firm.Today, Butler Technologies employs 60 people and recently helped with the technology that heated the Ralph Lauren jackets worn by American athletes in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.The Tri-County Manufacturing Consortium, which has members from Butler, Armstrong and Indiana counties, boasts 34 members in Butler County.Those firms range from large operations like Herr-Voss Stamco in Callery and AGR International in Butler Township to smaller, yet equally innovative manufacturers like On The Edge sheet metal fabricating in the shadow of the Gen. Richard Butler Bridge.While the steel and rail plants that dotted the county may be dwindling, it appears innovation and technology will continue to keep Butler County in the industrial mix for the future.
