Industrial supplier ECI moves operations center to Cecil Township complex
Dan Smith was seeking an opportunity to relocate his company’s operations center to a Cecil Township tract where Equipment and; Controls Inc. already occupied four buildings. Then, a fortuitous opportunity arose.
“We made the decision a year ago when a building became available,” he said. Leasing that fifth structure from Black Box, an information technology company based in Texas, enabled ECI to lease an ample space that, following renovation, would provide 108,000 square feet of room to operate. The company shifted its operations center from Monessen to this Lawrence location, a more modern endeavor that would open for business this fall.
“We were able to move our business team to our backyard,” said Smith, president and CEO of the industrial equipment supplier. The company’s southwestern Pennsylvania operations are now, conveniently, on a single campus, where five buildings sit within a quarter-mile, providing employees with easy access to the entire campus via foot or golf cart.
“It’s much easier to expose all employees to see what others are doing instead of being an hour away and hearing about it,” he added. “The ability employees have to collaborate with each other pays dividends and gives us the capability of realizing better customer outcomes.”
ECI is an employee-owned firm that, according to its website (ECI.us), has “a great workplace culture.” It was founded in 1956 as J.G. Chilcoat Co. in Castle Shannon, where it ran for two decades before assuming its current name and relocating to Lawrence.
Today, the company describes itself on LinkedIn as specializing “in providing best-in-class process control systems, automation products, pumps and related solutions for manufacturing and industrial customers.”
Its list of clients includes those who operate in a a substantially wide range of industrial fields: oil and gas, steel, chemical, power, food and beverage, mining and metals, life sciences, pulp and paper, refining, petrochemical, original equipment manufacturing and nuclear.
“The last couple of years, we’ve worked with companies in trying to sustain a footprint to be environmentally sound,” Smith said. “Oil and gas has been a very good catalyst for us. We have been very involved with helping our natural gas customers get gas out to consumers in an environmentally responsible way.”
ECI is also a premier service provider for Emerson, a global technology, software and engineering giant. Equipment and Controls delivers control valves, isolation valves, actuation products and pressure management devices across North America.
This spiffy new operations center at 1005 Park Drive is now the brain center for a firm that has six locations in three states, including three in Ohio (Columbus, Lima and Solon) and two in West Virginia (Salem and Dunbar).
Actually, it is a brain center-plus, where Smith said, “there is a lot of skilled labor.” The center, according to ECI.us, provides “flexible work areas designed for efficient workflows — and growth; increased lifting capabilities for larger projects; optimized warehouse storage; increased inventory capacity; and advanced technologies, including a robotic welder.” There also is a skid fabrication shop.
The company had two grand openings in September — one a soft one for employees and retirees, the second for customers, employees, benefactors and other invitees.
Smith, who has been president/CEO since 2014, said the company has an overall workforce of about 330, including about 200 in Cecil. Like many firms, he said, ECI has had to deal with a tight labor market but strives to attract employees with a package of incentive-related programs related to fitness, nutrition, mental health and retirement.
His roots are in West Virginia, where he was raised, educated at West Virginia University, and embarked on his career with Equipment and Controls Inc. in Charleston. Smith relocated to Pittsburgh in 2007, where he feels at home personally and professionally.
“We’re excited about continuing to invest in our business and bettering ourselves,” Smith said. “We’ve been in business for nearly 70 years, and if we continue to hire productive people, we will ensure that our business will be around for the next 70 years.”