Approximately 90 Cleveland Brothers’ employees in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area get to go to work every day in a significantly larger brand new facility. And on July 30, the company held a grand opening to celebrate milestone.
The facility features a 60,000-sq.-ft. main building, 20 service bays, 10 service bays for construction equipment and compact construction equipment, six over-the-road truck bays and four oil and gas petroleum bays. There is a 20-ton crane in the petroleum bays, a 5 ton crane in the truck bays and two 10 ton and two 7 and half ton in the construction area.
And both employees and customers have one word for it: Amazing.
“Really, that is the word of the day,” said John Borys, parts and CE service manager. “They can’t get over how state-of-the-art it is, especially with contamination control. We built this as a model contamination control for the rest of the company. We took all of Caterpillar standards and we met or exceeded them so we could be a five-star facility.
“One of the things that we have that nobody else has is with the provisions we put into work on CNG [compressed natural gas]. We have sensors in that side of the shop in the ceiling and the floor that can sense a gas leak. If it does that, we have a fire door that closes, that cuts that leg off from the rest of the building. The exterior doors open and then the exhaust fans emergency evac all the air and system.”
The land for the new facility was purchased in the early 2000s but was put on the back burner for several years. The company broke ground on July 24, 2014, and moved in July 20, 2015.
Robert E. Lamb Inc. was the contractor.
“We do planning, design and construction,” said Mike Schirling of Robert E. Lamb Inc. “I’m in the planning group, so I work with Cleveland Brothers in terms of understanding their requirements and then working out the needs for this facility. So I planned and designed it and then we actually executed the construction for the facility as well, so we did the full job here. It looks great and it sounds like they are really pleased with it. It’s nice to see what you work on from the beginning come to fruition.”
The new facility also has an 8,700-sq.-ft. wash building.
“It’s got a knock down bay for any of the track equipment that would come in with heavy dirt on it,” said Borys. “That knocks down, it goes through a sediment pond and from there goes to an oil and water separator and then it goes into the steam bay and then comes over a concrete apron into the shop, so it’s spotless when it comes into the shop, once again meeting contamination control guidelines.
“We have another standalone wash bay, steam bay, that is for our over the road trucks and petroleum industry,” Borys added. “Whether they are working on emergency power generators or frack trucks, they use that other steam bay. They are enclosed, heated, all of the latest and greatest filtration. Every drop for the air in the entire facility has a filter on it. Our oil gets filtered coming in, it gets filtered going out. It gets filtered coming into the bulk tank, it gets filtered coming out of the bulk tank, at the tank and then once again gets filtered at discharge. Caterpillar and Cleveland Brothers are really committed to contamination control. I think we are above and beyond our competitors by far.”
Under One Roof
The new facility replaces the former Wilkes-Barre and Pittston branches, merging them under one roof. It provides a quick and convenient one-stop shopping experience, housing the construction, electric power, industrial engines, oil and gas, and on-highway truck businesses.
“The new Wilkes-Barre/Scranton branch stands for Cleveland Brothers’ ongoing commitment to our customers and their businesses in northeast Pennsylvania,” said President and CEO Jay Cleveland Jr. “We are dedicated to helping make their business successful by providing world-class equipment and unparalleled service at this state-of-the-art branch.”
There are approximately 90 total employees in the building, 50 or 60 of whom are technicians.
The parts warehouse is 10,000 sq. ft., with 28 ft. ceilings, so Cleveland Brothers went high with all of its racking. All of the pallet racking is 20 ft. high; the shelving is 16 ft. high.
There are 12 service trucks on the construction side, and approximately a dozen that work on gas and oil.
The new branch also has the capability to run 3516 engines that it has at the compressor stations.
“We can rebuild them here and then run them here in our shop,” said Borys. “We have a two-inch gas line coming into the building with 50 psi, so we have the capability to run any natural gas.”
Gas Company Business
Cleveland Brothers is seeing an increase in pipeline work.
“Pipeline is considered oil and gas, so right now they are putting a lot of pipe in the ground, so we are probably seeing I would have to say we are still probably 40 percent for oil and gas,” said Borys. “Heavy construction really picked up, highway construction and residential construction, that all picked up this year.”
Celebrating in Style
The grand opening drew customers, friends and their families from the northeastern Pennsylvania area. Guests were treated to a barbecue dinner, as well as demonstrations of Caterpillar equipment and tours of the new facility. NASCAR’s Ryan Newman, driver of the Cat-sponsored car, helped open the facility with flair when he drove his racecar across a finish line in front of the main building, while hundreds of spectators looked on. After that, Newman answered questions from fans and signed autographs. Several individual information stations specific to the various services and products the company carries were helmed by Cleveland Brothers staff throughout the facility.
For more information, visit http://www.clevelandbrothers.com/.
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