FALCONER - Space needed for state-of-the-art equipment and 200 percent more capacity is why Spray-Tech Finishing & Assembly has moved locations.
The company's new facility is located at 1853 Delaware Ave., Falconer. Starting today at 10 a.m., an open house will be hosted by Spray-Tech officials for people wanting to see the new production line.
David Dawson, Spray-Tech Finishing & Assembly president as well as chief executive officer for Dawson Metal Company Inc. and Dawson Doors, said the business started in 1994 as a partnership between Phoenix Metal Fabricating and Dawson's businesses. The company does metal industrial powder coating, wet painting and custom assembly work for both Phoenix and Dawson, along with Blackstone Business Enterprises and other companies.
Article Photos
Pictured is the inside of the new Spray-Tech Finishing & Assembly facility.
Submitted photos
Since the start of the business, it has been located in the Dahlstrom building on Buffalo Street. Different sections of the building are currently being demolished, which wasn't the most conducive work environment. Dawson said the need for modern equipment and a more favorable work environment for employees are a couple reasons the business has moved.
''The technology we were using was 50 years old and work was being done in a 100-year-old building,'' he said. ''It had just become unworkable in the last year and we decided we needed to find a new facility. We wanted a new state-of-the-art paint system, which we couldn't put into the old building.''
Dawson said company officials made the decision to move when there was six months remaining on the lease for the Dahlstrom building. Before selecting the new facility in Falconer, company officials looked through a half a dozen buildings in the area. Dawson said most of these buildings would have been a shared work environment with another business, which company officials weren't in favor of doing.
Finally, a 50,000 square-foot warehouse was located in the town of Ellicott which would fit business needs. Spray-Tech officials leased the building from Jim Barnes, which Dawson said helped make the move easier.
''We did the project in six months, from picking the place to setting up the assembly line. We needed to move and move quickly,'' Dawson said. ''We've never had a facility like this before. It is as nice as any manufacturing facility there is in Chautauqua County.''
Dawson said the more than $1 million renovation to create the new plant was completed by using mostly local products and contractors.
''With expansion, we will be able to take on more customers, which will lead to more employees,'' he said. ''We will attract new customers because we use the latest and greatest technology. We anticipate we will grow quickly.''
Along with new state-of-the-art technology, the business has a new clean room which is used for more precise painting for the ASML company. ASML is one of the world's leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or microchips.
Dawson said the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and First Niagara Bank officials assisted in making the move easier, as well. Guy Lombardo, Dawson Metal Company chief financial officer, was also essential to completing the project.
''Guy made it happen,'' Dawson said.