50 to work in former Sharon Tube facility in Brookfield

BROOKFIELD — Steel tubular manufacturer TMK IPSCO, parent company of Ultra Premium Oilfield Services, confirmed today that it has signed a lease for the former Sharon Tube facility on Parkway Drive, off Collar Price Road, and will begin production of steel tube connections sometime this April.

The company has begun to advertise for workers and expects to employ 50 this year and will expand to 120 if business warrants, said Ray Rarey, vice president and chief human resources officer for TMK IPSCO, which is headquartered in Downer’s Grove, Ill, a suburb of Chicago.

The factory will produce connections that attach steel pipes used in the gas exploration industry, Rarey said. Over the next couple months, Ultra Premium will install machinery and hire and train employees, he added.

TMK IPSCO is the parent company of Koppel Tubular Corp., which has operations in Beaver County, Pa., including a melt shop and tube-finishing facility in Koppel, Pa, just south of Ellwood City, and a seamless tube making and finishing plant 20 miles south in Ambridge.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved the Job Creation Tax Credit worth $872,000 over nine years on Monday to help encourage the company to locate in Ohio. Ultra Premium will invest $10 million at the plant, including $9 million in equipment and $1 million for the building.

Read more in Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com