20 years and counting test company's mettle

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
STRUTHERS -- Frank Galletta Sr. has enjoyed six colorful decades in science.
It began with work on an unusual project -- the atomic bomb. He was drafted by the Army in 1944 and sent to work on a small part of the Manhattan Project because he was studying chemical engineering in college.
Then he spent 30 years working at Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube, where he set up an advanced testing lab in 1950 and helped create a new research lab in 1964.
And his career continues today, even at age 83. Galletta is co-owner with his son of Spectrochemical Testing in Struthers, a company he started 20 years ago.
Galletta is at the office of the State Street company every day but jokes about his duties at the five-man firm.
"I'm at the point in my life where I just watch these guys work," he said with a a laugh.
Not that Galletta still can't run the machines that analyze the chemical composition and mechanical qualities of steel and aluminum.
He just decided to take it easy a few years ago when the company had the chance to hire Gus Selak as its chief chemist. Selak had held the same position at the CSC Ltd. steel mill in Warren until it closed.
Spectrochemical Testing is growing so fast that it just hired a technician, Tim Clark, to assist in the work. Another technician, Jeffrey Allshouse, has been working with the company for years.
Son's direction
The growth has come under the direction of Frank Galletta Jr., 39, of Louisville. He joined his father's business in 1991 after graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in economic geography.
Why didn't he become a chemist?
"That's a good question. I don't know," he said.
He said he joined Spectrochemical because he saw opportunities for expansion, not to mention the chance to work with his dad.
"We've been able to grow, and we've had some fun along the way," he said.
He created growth opportunities by adding equipment that tested the mechanical qualities of metal, not just the chemical composition. One machine, for example, stretches steel to test its breaking point.
The younger Galletta learned about such equipment while working in a lab at Worthington Steel in Columbus during college.
Spectrochemical also has been helped by some industry trends.
First, many companies that work with steel and aluminum have decided to outsource that work, rather than staff their own labs.
Second, the push for manufacturers to become certified in international quality standards has led to increased demand for testing. Spectrochemical is certified by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation.
Lastly, the company's Web site has brought in business from all around the country. While most of the company's customers are in the Mahoning Valley, it does work with customers in California, New York and Florida.
A remarkable thing
The growth is remarkable considering what has happened to manufacturing in the Mahoning Valley, Galletta Sr. said.
Steel processors such as Cold Metal Products in Campbell, which used to be a big customer, have closed. Others, such as LTV's pipe mill in Youngstown, were bought by another company and then closed later as the new owner slimmed down operations.
"One by one these companies fell by the wayside, but thank God we have picked up other work," he said.
The father and son keep a rack of products that they have tested. On it are auto parts, pipe hangers, garden tools, aluminum cans and corkscrews. Some of the work also comes in as sections of steel that haven't been formed into products.
Galletta Jr. said the company does more than just test the steel and aluminum. It sometimes advises customers on changes they can make to produce a better product.
For example, Spectrochemical might analyze one piece that worked as intended and a similar piece that didn't. The company would look for differences in chemical composition of the two pieces and then help the customer write a specification in its bids that would address that shortcoming.
Galletta Sr. chuckles when he thinks about what the new equipment can do. In the old days at the steel mill, workers would need eight hours to conduct chemical tests that are done in minutes by a machine today.
His background
Galletta Sr. lives in Struthers with his wife of 56 years, Rita.
He grew up in Bessemer, Pa., and was in his junior year studying chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh when he was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to an infantry unit and then he and three other engineering students were pulled out just as the unit was sent to fight in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium during World War II.
The engineering students ended up at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which was founded to create an atomic bomb. The young draftees were told that if they had second thoughts about working on the project they would be assigned to a front-line unit in Europe.
Galletta worked in a group that experimented with explosive substances to find the required chemical composition. Galletta said the dropping of the bombs over Japan spared the lives of many American soldiers, but the devastation the bomb created doesn't sit well with him.
"It doesn't make you feel too good about what happened," he said.
After his two-year service hitch was up, Galletta stayed on for one more year, working as a civilian. Then work began on developing more advanced nuclear weapons, called hydrogen bombs, so he quit.
"The thought of making a bomb even more deadly didn't appeal to me," he said.
He finished up his degree at Pitt and started working as a coal chemist at Sheet & amp; Tube in 1947.
Urged to create business
After the company shut down in 1977, he worked for in a lab at Sawhill Tubular in Wheatland, Pa. When Sawhill closed its lab, Galletta was urged to create his own business by outside companies who used the Sawhill lab.
He has only one regret -- that he didn't start his own company much sooner.
"Here's something I learned late in life: Often when you work for other people, you're not appreciated," he said.
But now, he and his son are running things the way they want. They admit that their cramped and cluttered lab isn't a palace, but they think things have turned out pretty well.
"The fact that we've been here 20 years speaks to the fact that our customers are pretty happy with us," Galletta Sr. said.
shilling@vindy.com