JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) — An old car shop in Johnstown — once part of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation — will be resurrected later this year.
It is all part of one man’s vision, seeing the potential of the original tank car building in Johnstown’s West End and how that 120-year-old building could support a new manufacturing business today.
Jason Lammertin is not new to Johnstown. He set up an office here for his construction company, Solid Platforms Inc., about 8 years ago.
SPI specializes in scaffold services — employing roughly one thousand people at locations across the Midwest.
Scaffolding that has been a part of countless projects nationwide, including Penn State’s dramatic Beaver Stadium rebuild.
“For instance, Beaver Stadium had a big scaffold go around for painting and also the ribbon board; we actually created some components to get up into those areas with a lot more ease, rather than just put together a bunch of scaffold inside of there,” Lammertin says.
Up until now, SPI has been purchasing scaffold from foreign countries.
But beginning next month, that scaffold will be Johnstown-made at the former Bethlehem Steel tank car building, which is home to Spilock Manufacturing.
“When I found it in 2019, I was jumping for joy then and it was an empty building and cobwebs and things run around it. So, to see it not only being repurposed but being reused in the same manner as people 120 years ago were, to me, is incredible. It’s even further incredible that we can make this an actual revival about how people work, how they manufacture and how to be proud.”
Reporter: You are repurposing that building, talk about how you will be using it?
So, we’re going to be using it for scaffold manufacturing. What we’re going to do is take raw steel tube, American made steel, bring it into the shop and then we have what’s called well tables or jigs. Once you form those jigs up, you put the steel tube on and then you have different components, either connection pieces or end pieces, so you have horizontal and verticals. That’s what we’re going to fabricate inside of the shop: ‘Split Bite.” It will all be USA made, all American made inside that shop.
Reporter: Everyone’s going to want to know, why Johnstown?
First of all, from the business side, it actually is a central location for our business, but it also gives us a lot of flexibility to get materials in and out. Johnstown, being centrally located where it is, that we can have our not only our projects, but our other offices, we can get them to and from relatively easily even though Johnstown.But the second answer is, I love Johnstown. Johnstown has a rich history, not only when it comes down to blue collar workers but steel mills, a lot of manufacturing, a lot of things actually became gospel from Johnstown and the history that was there; especially in the way of culture and your work, style of work, going to work on different shifts, day shift and night shift.
Spilock will employ about three dozen people when the facility goes operational and Lammertin says locals can expect his workforce to grow.
The inaugural production and ribbon-cutting ceremony for Spylock Manufacturing is set for Friday, January 16th.