Businessman attributes success to employees
Daniel Gearing said it takes a team to make a business successful.
The recipient of this year’s Eberly Economic Development Award from Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, Gearing said his entire staff at Specialty Conduit and Manufacturing in North Union Township deserves credit for the company’s good fortune. He was presented the award at Fay-Penn’s annual dinner last week.
“Nobody’s successful on their own,” Gearing said. “It takes everybody to be successful. I’m just the point person.”
Before he started Specialty Conduit in December 1999, he worked at Permacoat, a business founded by his father, Joseph Gearing. Permacoat was sold after his father died in the spring that year.
“We built a business with friends, my kids and former Permacoat employees,” Gearing said. “We started from scratch.”
Specialty Conduit, which makes hardware piping for plumbing and rigid steel conduit for the electric industry, initially produced 1,600 tons of pipe a year with seven employees and now produces 15,000 tons a year with 47 employees. Gearing said he would like to increase production and is considering hiring more workers.
In 2004, the company acquired a Somerset County business that made steel pipe nipples and eventually relocated it to Specialty Conduit’s facility in Mount Braddock. Now called the Faber Division and run by his son, Christopher Gearing, it also produces pipe elbows and threaded couplings.
The business is challenging because of competition from less expensive imported products.
“We fight imports from overseas countries. There’s no guarantee for tomorrow,” Daniel Gearing said.
Despite his success, Daniel Gearing said he was surprised he was selected for the award.
“I’m shocked that anyone would even think about giving me an award. There’s a lot of deserving people in Fayette County, and I didn’t put myself in that league,” Gearing said. “I don’t like being in the limelight.”