Fay-Penn approves $150,000 loan for bridge fabricator
A local firm involved in the bridge-building industry will get a $150,000 low-interest loan from Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. The loan will fund part of Shane Felter Industries $568,000 project to buy equipment that will allow it to increase production of finished metal bridge beams.
Offered through the Fay-Penn Downtown Revitalization Loan Fund, the money will help pay for a Wheelabrator Automated Blasting Machine at the company’s plant on Route 51 near Uniontown.
Shane Felter, which fabricates bridge structures for various departments of transportation throughout the eastern United States, has been in business since 1970 and currently employs about 60 workers.
Currently, using a manual blasting process, Shane Felter workers are able to process seven beams during two shifts.
With the new machine, workers will be able to process 26 beams during the same period.
Denny Shanefelter, owner, explained that blasting and painting requirements are approximately 40 percent of the total effort to produce a bridge structure. As the federal and state governments begin to distribute federal stimulus money on various bridge projects, the demand will increase for products from bridge manufacturers.
The new equipment, he added, will be imperative for Shane Felter to remain competitive in the bridge fabricating market.
“The purchase of the new automated blasting equipment will create new fabricating jobs, increasing our overall employment.
“However, we believe that it is equally important that with the purchase of the new equipment we will be able to maintain the 60 jobs that we have provided over the life of our company,” Shanefelter said.
“The new equipment will also allow us to maintain the market position that we have obtained as being a very credible and notable bridge fabricator of bridge projects not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the entire eastern quadrant of the United States,” Shanefelter added.