An industrial revolution

One man’s passion for action leads to the restoration of an industrial complex.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

COLUMBIANA — Jerry Stoneburner is old enough to retire but his keen business sense won’t let him.

At age 71, he’s directing the revival a large industrial complex here that sat vacant for two years after National Refractories and Minerals Corp. closed in 2002.

“I get bored when I’m not doing something,” Stoneburner said.

His passion for action led to the restoration of what was becoming an eyesore on Esterly Road.

The NRM plant is quite noticeable from state Route 11, rising up five stories above the surrounding cornfields. A separate office building had fallen into disrepair before Stoneburner stepped in.

Started as Kaiser Refractories in 1956, the plant had employed 200 in recent years making bricks for steel mills and coke ovens.

Since taking it over in 2004, Stoneburner, his son, Lee, and his wife, Carolyn, are close to matching that level of employment.

The Stoneburners are leading a waste brokering company, trucking firm and aluminum extruder that employ 140, with plans to add at least 40 more at the extrusion business. They also are renting space to 11 other companies that employ 20.

Tracy Drake, chief executive of the Columbiana County Port Authority, is enthusiastically supporting the Stoneburners’ efforts.

“It’s important to put these old buildings back into play,” he said.

Not only does it prevent them from become eyesores, but it also keeps industrial development in place and prevents sprawl, he said.

Jerry Stoneburner’s original interest in the building was its rail siding. He had proposed using the track as a staging area for transferring construction and demolition debris from railroad cars to trucks.

NRM officials turned him down, but when the company closed, Stoneburner acquired the complex in bankruptcy court.

Besides the rail siding, he received the large plant, rundown office and 107 acres.

“We didn’t know how we were going to use it,” he said.

What they did

Here’s how the Stoneburners expanded with the additional space:

•Better Management Corp. of Ohio is the Stoneburners’ main company that started it all. The waste broker had been in a Boardman office but moved to the former NRM office after it was gutted and renovated. Better Management now employs 33.

The company arranges for waste to be brought in from the East Coast to the BFI landfill in Poland and a half dozen others.

The rail siding in Columbiana, however, has allowed it to expand into construction and demolition debris handling.

It brings in 1,000 tons of construction and demolition debris daily by rail and loads it into trucks. The debris is taken to the A&L Landfill near Lisbon. The Stoneburners used to own half the landfill but sold their interest to a Pittsburgh company two years ago.

The extra space in Columbiana also has allowed Better Management to begin repairing and rebuilding tippers, which are the devices that unload waste from a truck at a landfill.

Better Management has been named the exclusive repair company for a manufacturer, Columbia Industries, that has more than 300 tippers across the country.

The local company sends a crew out to landfills to repair the tippers or has them hauled back to Columbiana for refurbishing. It also operates 18 tippers at landfills as an independent contractor.

•The Stoneburners took a big step toward filling the former NRM building by acquiring Dart Trucking two months after moving in. Dart, which had been in Canfield, had been owned by Howland-based Avalon Holdings.

Dart has 30 office workers and 40 people in the shop, plus 200 drivers on the road.

They haul general commodities, such as steel, to the East Coast and then haul waste back.

Tired of trucking business

One concession that Jerry Stoneburner has made to age is that he is tired of being in the trucking business. He owned Stony’s Trucking and Buckeye Transfer, both in Youngstown, from 1969 to 1987.

Driving around the complex in a golf cart, he grimaced every time he saw a mangled truck that had been set aside because it was smashed on the road.

“Those cost $65,000 to $100,000. I hate seeing them like that,” he said.

It’s not just the expense. It’s also the lack of control that he has over drivers who are on the road.

“You’re responsible, but where is the management? There is none,” he said.

That’s why he sold his interest in Dart to Tim Kephart of Kephart Trucking Co. in Bigler, Pa. Lee Stoneburner retained his ownership interest and is president of Dart.

•Running the family’s newest company, Zarbana Industries, is more rewarding, Stoneburner said.

He, his son and two partners created the company in 2005 and already are shipping 1 million pounds of aluminum a month. The company extrudes aluminum for Army cots, truck trailer parts and other items.

“It’s a challenge to make something,” Stoneburner said. “It’s sort of like kids with Play-Doh.”

Plus, he likes being able to meet with the employees any time he wants, unlike truck drivers.

Idea for extrusion company

It was Steve Zarbaugh and Dave Rutana, who used to operate a fabricating business in North Lima, who had the idea for the extrusion company. The pitch was that they had the know-how and the Stoneburners had the building.

After a $1.6 million investment in equipment, business has been going so strong that the company is looking to double its 40-person staff. First, a kiln used by NRM has to be removed so the company can install a second extrusion line.

The port authority has secured to federal grants to investigate asbestos contamination at the site and has applied for money for removal.

Stoneburner actually turned over ownership of the property to the port authority after acquiring it. Drake said the arrangement is common with old industrial properties because private companies don’t want the liability of environmental problems.

Eventually, the complex probably will be turned back over to Stoneburner, he said.

Stoneburner agreed that his company probably would assume ownership of the complex someday, but for now, he’s focused on expanding Better Management’s work with the landfill tippers, adding another line at Zarbana and hoping his son can handle the headaches of running a trucking company.

Much has changed for him since three years ago, when he was only concerned about brokering truck shipments for Better Management. Business is all about spotting the next opportunity, though, he said.

“When opportunity knocks, you grab the ring and go with it or it passes you by,” he said.

shilling@vindy.com