The process of bringing Napco to Buffalo Township in the mid-1990s wasn't a simple task. Utility and other major issues had to be resolved, and Napco was being courted by other places, such as Armstrong County and Canton, Ohio, both of which were more prepared to welcome the plant.

At the dedication of the new Napco facility along Route 356 near Sarver in September 1996, county Commissioner Glenn Anderson said there were times in the Napco process when it would have been easier to quit, but officials remained committed to the task and got the job done.

"This is an exciting time for Napco, CDC (Community Development Corporation of Butler County) and Butler County," said then-CDC President Lee Ligo at the dedication. "(CDC) worked hard with the property owner, the county commissioners and Napco and wouldn't give up."

CDC and government leaders now have a new, albeit unwelcomed, challenge — to help find someone to replace Napco. Napco's parent company, Great Lakes Windows of Toledo, Ohio, confirmed Tuesday that the Route 356 plant will be closing in about two months.

The closing will mean the loss of jobs for 75 union employees represented by the United Steelworkers of America plus an unspecified number of non-union workers.

A plant that seemed to provide long-term promise just a decade ago is about to evolve into another headstone in Pennsylvania's manufacturing cemetery.

According to the Rendell administration, 10,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the commonwealth in 2005, an improvement over 2001, when 73,000 jobs were lost across the state.

However, last year's lower number still is troubling, considering that since January 2003 a total of 59,800 manufacturing jobs in the state have been lost. That number came from data released in December by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics through October 2005 and reported in a Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association publication.

A modern facility of the Napco building's caliber must not be allowed to remain vacant and deteriorate. Word must be spread far and wide about the new vacancy, which is close to four-lane, limited-access Route 28 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

It is to be hoped that Variform of Kearney, Mo., which owns Great Lakes Windows, will join with Great Lakes in actively spreading the news about the soon-to-be vacant plant.

Although CDC does not own the Napco plant, it is important for the local economic development agency to try to keep in close touch with Great Lakes and Variform regarding the plant's future and offer its help in marketing the facility, if that is Great Lakes' and Variform's intent.

It is unfortunate that Napco is becoming a loser in this country's not-always-friendly business-acquisitions scenario. Too often smaller communities are losers when their plants are bought by bigger companies whose operations are closer to big markets — or whose manufacturing needs already are being met by other plants that they own.

Great Lakes has said what is being manufactured in Buffalo Township actually represents excess capacity for the company.

It has not been announced that any local workers are being offered positions in Toledo or anywhere else in the Great Lakes/Variform operations.

Despite the setback for the local economy, there is opportunity amid the Napco plant's current plight. It will require local officials' determined efforts to overcome the setback and working in cooperation with the building's owner. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that today's setback could eventually be the seed for something else with better longer-term prospects.

Finding that "something else" is the challenge now facing local officials, who proved they were up to the task a decade ago.

It's OK to be discouraged at this juncture, but moving forward with optimism is the best tack.