Pyrex Proud World Kitchen, Charleroi will join for 100th anniversary celebration of iconic brand
John Lackovic, plant manager at World Kitchen’s Charleroi plant, oversees production of more than 50 million pieces of Pyrex product each year.
The former George MacBeth Glass Factory, which today serves as World Kitchen’s North American manufacturing and distribution center for Pyrex products, such as the 100th anniversary-edition measuring cup, is the enduring connection to Charleroi’s glassmaking heritage.
A 100th anniversary edition Pyrex measuring cup currently being manufactured at World Kitchen’s Charleroi plant.
Bill Castner Jr.
For more than a century, the giant factory on Charleroi’s Eighth Street has stood for the town’s longtime connection to the glassmaking industry.
The plant, originally built in 1893 as George MacBeth Glass Co., worked under a succession of owners, but is best known for producing an iconic brand of kitchenware products that today are staples in tens of millions of American households.
When World Kitchen Inc. kicks off its 100th anniversary of Pyrex products from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday – complete with a pancake breakfast and the world’s largest Pyrex measuring cup on display – the biggest measure of the company’s thanks will go to its employees and the town of Charleroi.
Chicago-based World Kitchen has been operating the plant since 1998, making the Charleroi site its North American manufacturing and distribution center for all things Pyrex – measuring cups, baking dishes and pie plates – a total of 85 different shapes that, according to Charleroi plant manager John Lackovic, have found their way into more than 80 million American households.
To reach that size of market, which also includes Canada and Mexico, the plant’s 355 employees – 315 people represented by the United Steelworkers of America and 40 in management – are responsible for turning out between 120,000 and 150,000 pieces a day, or from 50 million to 52 million pieces a year.
The company made some significant capital investments in the historic factory, where Pyrex products have been made since the 1930s.
According to Lackovic, in 2010, it rebuilt a melting tank, the same year it installed a new state-of-the art firing press, adding another new firing press in 2012.
The plant’s current production schedule is devoted to turning out Pyrex vessels bearing its 100th anniversary design and logo – something that will undoubtedly pique the interests of collectors of the product.
Despite staying current on production technology, Lackovic is quick to point out that what really makes Pyrex, well, Pyrex, is the workforce.
“The employees have made Pyrex into what it is today,” he said, adding the Charleroi plant always had a high employee retention rate and includes many workers whose fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles were or still are employees in its various operations.
One of those multigenerational families includes Bill Castner Jr., 34, of Belle Vernon, an 11-year employee, whose father, Bill Castner Sr., has 39 years of service at the factory.
The younger Castner said he earned a degree in meteorology, but struggled to find a job. With school loan repayments approaching, Castner said, “My dad said, hey, they’re hiring at World Kitchen.”
Castner began in an entry-level position as a glass inspector, checking for defects, drove a forklift in the shipping department for a year, then worked in “Automatic,” the area where the various Pyrex products are shaped. For the past four years, he has been the safety and health representative for USW Local 53G, which represents the plant’s workers.
While acknowledging the space between meteorology and manufacturing is vast, Castner said he loves the atmosphere of the plant and being in a position where he ensures that everyone, including his father, can work safely.
He added that employees take pride in their work.
“It’s a cultural thing, whether it’s in the raw materials area or getting products ready to ship to customers,” he said.
That pride has been instilled in Castner, who said whenever he takes his family shopping at Walmart or Target, both of which carry the Pyrex line, he enjoys pointing out to his children that their grandfather made the items.
“I’m always looking to see how our products are doing against the competitors, and how they look on the shelves,” he said. “No one told us to do that.”
According to Lackovic, the plant has been running at full capacity for the past several years. He said the high output has been helped by the growing “Made in America” movement of the past several years that favors and promotes domestically produced products of all types.
While the World Kitchen plant makes a big contribution to American manufacturing jobs, Debbie Keefer, executive director of the Charleroi-based Mon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the company’s presence is felt well beyond its factory walls.
“They’re a great corporate citizen,” Keefer said. “Financially, they’re generous and do what they can,” adding that World Kitchen takes an ongoing interest in the town’s revitalization efforts.
“We don’t get that from every corporation,” she said, adding that the company “always keeps us in the loop” when it can share an opportunity to promote the town.
Two of those opportunities occurred, she said, when the plant was featured in segments on cable television’s “How It’s Made” and “Made In America” programs.
The biggest promotional opportunity will come next week when Charleroi will change its name to Pyrex, Pa., for 100 days to note the 100th anniversary of the famous kitchenware.
“The entire nation will know about little Charleroi,” Keefer said. “That national recognition will put us on the map.”
Charleroi Borough Manager Donn Henderson looks to the local plant as the enduring, and best-known, connection to the area’s glassmaking heritage.
“It’s been the heart and soul of our manufacturing,” said Henderson.
“Once the entire riverfront was dedicated to glassmaking,” he said. “It’s down to Pyrex. It’s critical to our economy. It certainly makes us unique.”