Business & Tech

EST Group's Business Booms With Expansion Groundbreaking

The Hatfield Township manufacturers of tube plugs, condenser plugs, tube and pipe pressure testing equipment are adding 21,000 square feet to its Township Line Road plant.

There's a good thing happening at a large manufacturing plant that finds its home tucked at Township Line Road and Hatfield-Souderton Pike—business is booming.
So much so, that general managers and employees of EST Group gathered Friday afternoon for a groundbreaking to expand the plant's footprint by 21,000 square feet.
Shovels hit the ground, thus commencing the targeted six-month project.
"This is a lot of years in the making," Berneski said. "We moved here in 2005. We had aggressive growth plans. This was a team effort. We should celebrate it. We wouldn't be able to do it without our team."
Completion date is First Quarter 2014, at the latest.
"The schedule: we were supposed to being Aug. 5. So we're already behind schedule," said general manager Jim Berneski to his staff and co-workers. "Hatfield Township permits should issue this week, with mobilization on Aug. 12."
EST Group, a business unit of Curtiss Wright Flow Control Co., manufactures seals for pressure testing, piping and tubing, and repairs heat exchangers out of its Hatfield Township spot.
One would be able to find EST Group's product at any production requiring oil and gas or power generation, he said. The company also contracts with defense work, he said.
It has a $40 million budget to 2018, which Berneski called a necessary step for EST Group to get to the groundbreaking event.
"We are adding a 21,000-square-foot expansion to add more capability to the job," Berneski said. "We're strictly manufacturing. As we grow globally, we need to add more support for the demand."
Equipment has to be continually repaired and maintained, he said; if something degrades, its EST Group's job to fix it.
Berneski accented other positives of EST Group at present: Stock is up $4 to $44. One team met a 16-week production schedule for the first time. Five new Computer Numerical Control (CNC) (digitally automated/controlled milling) machines are coming in.
"News of the expansion of the factory got out and stock went haywire," he said. "It's big news, and it's well received."


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