Glass company continues essential work
United Plate Glass was deemed “nonessential” for just one day early into pandemic restrictions. The three-building Grundman Drive campus mothballed and padlocked.
But overnight, UPG's industry — architectural glass and aluminum products — was back in a green box on Gov. Tom Wolf's essential business list. And it went right back to work.
Owner Mike Cully is choosing to bet favorably on the country's future, opening a third facility in Frederick, Md., in April, and staying the course on a planned $2.3 million acquisition of new equipment, including a new tempering furnace, for the Butler County headquarters.
“I'm the eternal optimist,” said Cully, who believes construction projects that had been planned for this year will happen as soon as the country is released from COVID-19-related restrictions.
Meantime, UPG has since opened all three buildings with more than 75 percent of the workforce — more than 125 people — at the Butler site working.
“The situation didn't create some boon to us, like we aren't all of a sudden making masks or hand sanitizer,” Cully said. “We are just able to work off back orders and keep business as usual.”
In April, Cully saw a 50 percent decrease in sales and so far this month sales are down 30 percent.
“The state of Pennsylvania shut my customer base down,” Cully said. “Losing the state of PA was a big hit. That contributed to the decline. It really hurt us. Most customers are privately held retail glass shops.”
Cully said it helps that most surrounding states still are permitted to do construction projects, including Maryland, where UPG opened the new, 40,000-square-foot facility April 1.
“Construction isn't idled there. They are producing glass as we speak,” said Cully, who already has hired and trained some of the 20 new people it will take to operate that facility. That site is producing heavy glass, like shower doors and glass entrances.
“There's plenty of work to give them,” he said.
He noted that if Wolf kept his business on the nonessential list, his company would have been destroyed since the surrounding states haven't put restrictions on construction.
“Thank God they let us open. All my competitors around were allowed to stay open and it would've destroyed us,” Cully said.
UPG's location in Charlotte, N.C., also faces no restrictions, but incidentally lost about 10 of its 55 employees because they had been working through a cooperative program with the state's prison system.
That state removed the inmates for the time being, Cully said.
On May 1, construction in Pennsylvania was permitted to resume and, by Monday, Cully said, those businesses were back in operation and buying glass products from Cully.
“We got everybody back that's going to come back,” Cully said and noted that all their buildings are reopened.
“I still can't find employees to fill positions,” he said. “Ten to 15 positions needed to be filled before shut down. We still need that.”
The new equipment he purchased will allow UPG to offer even more product choices, and that eventually will necessitate new employees, he said. The expansion, planned for Building Two, which houses residential production, is on hold only because the plant needs to be remodeled to accommodate the equipment.
Cully said he will be glad to offer jobs to people who need them. But UPG, a family-run operation, has a long-standing history of supporting its neighboring business and products, and Cully said he wishes that the workforce turnaround will not come as a consequential loss to other, local businesses.
“Bittersweet,” he said. “I have confidence. We will all pick back up.”
<br />
