Published Sunday, August 11, 2002
to put company
on right track
Herald Business Editor
Quickly walking past shiny metal billets stacked nearly 10 feet tall, Mark Buskirk tells a visitor they are bound for a local metal company.
Skirting a forklift rumbling through Bi-State Storage Inc.'s 90,000 square-foot warehouse, Buskirk weaves his way past a bundled pile of lumber and then through an aisle of steel coils.
"We've been busy today,'' he tells a visitor. "When we finish our project it's going to make us a lot more efficient.''
Many businesses rail at the state about a lack of cooperation, but in Bi-State's case Pennsylvania is literally railing the company.
Bi-State was recently awarded a $98,690 state grant to relocate existing railroad tracks and lay new tracks at its Wheatland warehouse. Owned by the Yourga family, which also operates Yourga Trucking next door in the Wheatland Industrial park, Bi-State loads and unloads materials and supplies on railroad cars, mostly for area industries that aren't directly serviced by rail.
"This should prove to be a big aid not only to this company but to our existing customer base in the Shenango Valley,'' said Buskirk, Bi-State's general manager. "And it should help stimulate economic growth in the whole area.''
Adding the extra tracks will enable the company to handle more railroad cars simultaneously and make it more efficient, Buskirk said.
A pusher car, which resembles a miniature locomotive, is now used to haul railcars into the warehouse. Another plus of installing the new tracks directly into the warehouse is that workers will no longer have to cross two streets in order to get to the railcars.
"That's going to save us a lot of time,'' said Ron Hawkins, Bi-State's manager.
Currently employing eight over two shifts, the expansion is expected begin next spring and add two new jobs.
Operating since 1985, Bi-State handles railcars throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico at its operation. Last year 650 railcars rolled into the warehouse and another 170 loaded with materials from local businesses were shipped out.
Incoming materials are shipped out by truck with each customer deciding which truck service they want to use.
The grant was awarded through the state's Rail Freight Assistance program and was announced by State Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th District, Salem Township and State Rep. Michael Gruitza, D-7th District, Hermitage.
On the net: www.bistatestorage.com