Olson and Olson plans expansion

July 07, 1998|By DON AINES

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Franklin County, Pa., manufacturer will be expanding next year with a new facility in the Chambers-5 Business Park, a process that could create 25 jobs over the next few years.

Olson and Olson Inc., 600 E. Paper Mill Road, Chambersburg, recently signed a sales agreement to purchase a five-acre parcel in the park, according to an announcement from the Chambersburg Area Development Corporation, which owns the industrial park.

The manufacturer of precision machined parts will begin construction on an 18,000-square-foot plant next spring with occupancy expected in late 1999. President Eric Olson said the new building will cost more than $1 million.

Within three years of the building's completion, Olson said the company expects the facility could double in size. In about eight years, the plant on Sheffler Drive in the park could expand to 60,000 square feet, he said.

Olson said the company will retain the 12,000-square-foot building on Paper Mill Road, using it for warehousing and assembly.

The company, founded in 1989, has 25 employees, a number Olson said will double over the next three years. He said wages should range from $8 to $14 an hour, with operators of computer-controlled machinery earning on the higher end of that scale.

Grove Worldwide in Shady Grove, Pa., and JLG Industries in McConnellsburg, Pa., are among the companies for which Olson and Olson produces. He said the company manufactures cylinder heads, pistons and other precision parts.

The company will expand its manufacturing to include hydraulic cylinders and cylinder components.

"We do welding and fabricating here, as well," said Olson. He said the company will also do sheet-metal work.

Olson said the company was able to get two loans totaling $250,000 last year through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Fund and the Small Business First Fund for the purchase of computer-controlled machinery. Olson and Olson plans to apply for state financing for the future expansion also, he said.

Olson and Olson had gross sales of $1.3 million in 1997 and projected sales of $1.5 million this year.

Last month, another supplier to Grove and JLG - Olympic Steel Inc., of Cleveland - announced it was building a $7.5 million plant in the Chambers-5 Business Park.

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