In the News: 2006

Firmly planted FS Elliott ready to expand horizons

Tribune-Review
7 October 2006

FS Elliott Co.'s business and employment have tripled in three years, with the company positioned for more growth by its entry in the refrigeration and flat-screen television markets, executives said Friday.

FS Elliott, which makes industrial compressors at its plant in Export, has invested $45 million in growing the business. And new orders have grown from $20 million initially to $85 million.

"We essentially picked up and moved an entire operation, while the business volume nearly tripled," said CEO Ronald L. Stewart.

FS Elliott started with 43 employees in 2003 and today employs 175 workers. FS Elliott is looking at adding 10 to 15 more jobs by the end of this year or early next year, said Keith L. Macurdy, chief financial officer.

The company held an open house yesterday to showcase its new, 15,000-square-foot, air-compressor testing facility -- an $8 million investment -- at its headquarters along Mellon Road in Export, Westmoreland County.

FS Elliott received nearly $2 million from the state to help complete the testing facility -- including $327,000, delivered yesterday by Daniel Gunderson, executive deputy secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The company previously received a $1.6 million, low-interest loan from the state.

Stewart said FS Elliott already has developed two prototypes of refrigeration compressors -- with a 500-ton capacity, or large enough to lower the water temperature enough to cool a 10-story office building. Stewart said the company also is involved with air compressors used to manufacture flat-screen televisions.

The company makes compressors of up 4,000 horsepower, which are used to drive motors and turbines that generate power used in steel mills, automobile factories, oil refineries and textile plants.

FS Elliott was formed in October 2003, when Fu Sheng Industrial Co. Ltd., a Taiwanese manufacturer of compressors, purchased the centrifugal-compressor division of Elliott Turbomachinery Co. in Jeannette.

Fu Sheng Industrial, which had revenue of $700 million last year, has factories in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and the United States. The company also makes titanium and stainless-steel golf club heads.