Specialty Strip and Oscillating of Masury marks 25th year

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

MASURY

When people hear the word "oscillating," they may think of a fan that turns side to side. But how would that describe the work done in a steel processing plant?

To Adam von Philp, president of Specialty Strip & Oscillating just off state Route 82 near the Pennsylvania border, oscillating is crucial to helping his Standard Avenue company continue to move forward as it hits its milestone 25th year in business.

Within the company’s 100,000-square-foot factory, 17 workers start with flat-rolled steel coils, slit them into strips, then run the strips through an oscillator. That machine gathers the strips into a coil that moves side to side – oscillates – so that the strips continuously load until a miles-long continuous coil of product is made.

The finished product is superior to strips wound conventionally because customers using the strips in their factories can run much longer without having to reload than conventional strips.

One strip can be 20 to 25 miles long, allowing the customer to run the product uninterrupted 10 to 15 times longer than conventional strips.

That eliminates downtime and scrap loss.

“It’s a huge production gain” for customers, von Philp said as he recently showed a reporter how the process works. Companies in Maine, California, Michigan, Illinois, Florida and Canada buy from Specialty Strip and Oscillating to make a variety of products.

The strips are various widths — some only a half-inch wide — and are used to make products such as straps that hold pipes in place in a building. The strips are also important in the food-processing, oil and gas, automotive and construction industries.

Adam von Philp’s father, Tom, and two business partners started the company in 1994 after Tom von Philp worked in executive and management positions for steel producers such as Bethlehem Steel, Empire Detroit Steel and Sharon Steel.

Specialty Strip & Oscillating buys all of its steel from American companies, most of it from NLMK Pennsylvania, the former Sharon Steel, located just over the Shenango River in Farrell, Pa.

“In 25 years, we have not bought one pound of foreign-made steel,” said Adam von Philp, who started working at the plant when he was 15 and ran one of the company’s machines for eight years before his father persuaded him to move to sales.

He later put all of his personal assets on the line to buy the company from his father and another partner. Some of the advice he received from his father was “work hard” and “never quit,” he said.

“I started as a janitor, and I’ve been here ever since,” he said. “I’ve literally worked on every piece of equipment here.”

Also important to Adam von Philp and his wife, Krissy, is their relationship with employees. In all, 30 people work for the company.

“It’s a family-owned and run business,” said Krissy, the company’s vice president. When the company recently needed a new plant manager, the company promoted from within for that position and for foreman.

“These guys are the heartbeat of the company, and we need more,” Adam said.

“We treat them like we would want to be treated ourselves,” Krissy added.