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Family ties to Northeast Pennsylvania helped keep a Clarks Summit manufacture locally owned.
John and Leah Kane closed on a deal to buy the die cast company Elecast Inc. from Dave Wessell this month.
The Abingtons area natives lived in New York City and New Jersey for about 10 years where Mr. Kane worked as an equity trader. They moved back to Clarks Summit a few years ago to raise their two sons, but Mr. Kane continued to commute to New York. He wanted to get involved in a local business and decided to leave the finance industry.
“The more we investigated this company it felt like the stars were aligning,” Mr. Kane said.
Mr. Kane stumbled on to Elecast Inc., 937 Griffin Pond Road, and Mr. Wessell through PMJ Group, which connects local businesses with potential buyers. Mr. Wessell, 73, wanted to sell the company so he could spend more time with own his family. He’s been a part of Elecast for 17 years, so keeping the company locally owned was important, he said.
“If I sold it to someone from out of town they might move it,” Mr. Wessell said. “I’ve got some skin in here and I want to see it continue.”
After graduating from West Point in 1994, Mr. Kane served for five years in the Army specializing in logistics before earning an MBA from College of William and Mary.
“I had already had a somewhat varied background,” he said. “With the right amount of work and mind set the industry switch was not a deterrent.”
The couple had to develop a business plan outlining their goals to get financing from Peoples Security Bank, Ms. Kane said. They used tools from the U.S. Small Business Association to help them. Ms. Kane, who worked for ad agencies in New York, will lead the company’s marketing and advertising.
“Obviously it’s a huge leap, but I think his combined skills and always being in leadership will help,” she said.
The company’s seven employees make aluminum parts for office furniture and zinc parts for electric motors, among other products, for just over 10 clients. Elecast uses short-run production to stay busy, building 5,000 or less parts per production series.
“Because of that, we’re more nimble and able to meet customers’ timeliness concerns,” Mr. Kane said.
In the die cast process, raw aluminum or zinc is melted down and poured into a cast, or mold. Once solid, holes for bolts or other attachments are machined into the part and the metal is smoothed.
Clients like AO Smith, Innovative Office Products and divisions of General Electric have been loyal to Elecast for decades. As Mr. Kane moves forward with the business he wants to maintain that trust.
“They expect a certain quality,” he said. “My priority is to make sure we keep those strong relationships.”
With recent reshoring efforts — bringing U.S. jobs back from overseas — Mr. Kane said he’s seen a recent trend of Pennsylvania companies working together. In the next year or two, after he’s built a firm understanding of how the company operates, he said they might explore ways to find new partners in the region and even hire more staff.
“We think there’s some great growth opportunities with this company,” he said.
-The
16th Guangzhou Die-casting, Foundry & Industry Furnace Exhibition
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