Graham Manufacturing

Speeches and shovels and breaking of ground aside, Dan Thoren really likes groundbreaking ceremonies for what they truly represent, he says.

And the Graham Manufacturing event Monday was the epitome of just that.

“It’s because of all the foresight, the strategy and the planning that goes into coming up to a day like this,” the company chief executive officer said. “Around eight or 10 years ago, I would get these surveys from the government, and it asked, what are your capabilities? And I’d fill them in and I’d think what the heck is all this just more bureaucracy? But they really wanted to know what our little business in Colorado could do.They wanted to know what we could design and what we could build. And I suppose at the same time, you know that eight or 10 years ago, there were people in Washington, DC, thinking about, what is the world going to look like in 10 years? What do we need to have in place to be able to deal with the threats that are coming at us?

“I remember going to conferences and hearing about this great power of competition and sometime that we’re going to have to prepare for. Evidently, the government thought that there was a big threat and that the industrial base was not in a good position to help support it. So budgets were proposed and passed, and we had funding for the industrial base,” Thoren said. “That’s what all started up when Graham received inquiries about what we could do, the capabilities that we would need to be able to support this effort. Our team came up with a great proposal and we’re going to begin to realize that today.”

Thoren and a handful of local, state and regional representatives grabbed those shovels to celebrate the 29,000 square-foot groundbreaking of Graham’s $17.6 million manufacturing facility in Batavia. The new construction is to mean 24 new full-time positions to meet customers’ growing needs, the U. S. Navy in particular, Thoren said. 

Graham is a global leader in the design and manufacture of “mission critical fluid, power, heat transfer and vacuum technologies for the defense, space, energy and process industries,” company officials said.

“Graham is an ideal subcontractor for the Department of Defense. We are patriotic, and we enjoy supporting our brothers and sisters in the military. We are proud to be a U.S. manufacturer with over 85 years of continuous operation in the state of New York,” Thoren said. “We have a diversified base of business that includes both defense and commercial, and when you have to do both, you have to be competitive in both, and that stretches us. You know, most defense contractors get a bad name about getting fat and lazy, but when you're playing on the commercial side, you have to be good. You have to be competitive. And that’s really what this company is all about.”

More specifically, the manufacturing facility will support the submarine and aircraft carrier industrial base, said Matt Conway, director of operations. Genesee County is a great direct labor force to get that job done, he said.

“Really, here in Genesee County, we’re a success story for the Navy and for the DOD. So we continue to want to push those boundaries and invest in the organization,” Conway said. “Our board of directors understand that as an organization. We understand that, and we have partners within the defense community that support us. So really, that’s what today is all about, is growing and continuing the legacy that we have within the defense realm.”

A representative for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative for New York’s 24th Congressional District Claudia Tenney, and state Assemblyman Steve Hawley attended the event, which included a tour of the Florence Avenue facility that has a workforce of 367 employees.

“We know that this is really important work. And my son actually is a Naval Academy graduate. He thought about submarines, but ended up commissioning as a Marine, he's a major today in the Marine Corps. He also has an important job in intelligence, and tells me that what we do in the Submarine Force is so important to our nation's security. We are the leaders, and it's because of companies like Graham, and I love that you said that you were patriotic,” Tenney said. “And what I love even more is that you're staying here in Batavia. You're staying in New York, which is so important to support our economic base. We have great representatives here, people I've worked with who do a fantastic job to support the employees your industry, to support our national defense. It's really great to have this history. And so I just want to say congratulations and thank you to everyone at Graham.”

Hawley presented company officials with a certificate of merit and lauded them for retaining their roots  right where they started “and continues, even under the onslaught of what happens in New York and many of the other states,” he said.

“It’s a testament to what they feel about this local community and the employees that work here, almost 400 employees, 24 new jobs, a great $18 million investment, belief in the government and who you are and what you do and the product that you make, and the employees that make that quality product,” Hawley said.

Previously: 

• Photo and video: Large load leaves Graham plant in Batavia, heads down Clinton Street
• Graham, the little manufacturing gem in Batavia making big equipment for a global market

If you want to make sparks fly, there are some folks at Graham Manufacturing in Batavia who want to talk with you.

Graham makes big things out of big pieces of metal, and that means welding. Graham invests a lot of money in training the people it hires so they learn to become world-class welders.

"We've got a welding school now where we're training our own welders," said Don Fonda, plant supervisor at Graham. "We partnered with Arc and Flame in Rochester. We're paying for people to take classes there. They're actually Graham employees, and we pay them to go to classes. Those are 12-week classes. If they do well, they come here. If they do so-so, we send them for another 12 weeks."

Plant Operations Manager/Commercial Randy Franklin said the welding work Graham needs is specialized and requires a great deal of skill. 

"We have really high-quality standards here," Franklin said. 

He explained, "We're not just building widgets.  It's not the same every single time. We like people who can solve problems. There's a variability in the workflow. It's a good place to work. I mean, it's been around for over 80 years, so it's been a pretty decent place as a bedrock or just providing an opportunity for people in the area."

When Graham, which has always been based in Batavia, was a smaller company, BOCES provided three or four young welders a year that Graham could hire, but now, with 300 employees locally and $150 million in annual revenue, there's a bigger demand for welders, as well as other manufacturing specialties, at Graham, so hiring has become more of a challenge.

Alfred State has a solid welding program, and it is a source of new hires for Graham, but as Fonda explained, if the graduates are not already from the GLOW region, they're likely not coming to Batavia for a job.

So he and Franklin want to get the word out to more local residents looking for a rewarding career -- good pay and solid benefits -- that Graham might be a good fit.

"I think there's a perception that all of this type of equipment is being built elsewhere in the world," Franklin said. "We haven't done a really good job of broadcasting where Graham is and what we do. So we wanted to try to get some more eyeballs on the type of equipment that we build and the opportunities for people in the area."

Graham's longstanding specialty has been equipment used in the oil and gas industries, extracting and refining fuels, but in recent years, Graham has fulfilled contracts for the Department of Defense, fabricating equipment for aircraft carriers and submarines.

"Oil and gas is very cyclical -- demand follows, essentially, the value of a barrel of oil," Franklin said. "The executives, like 10 to 12 years ago, they wanted to be able to even that out because no one enjoys layoffs. They wanted to find a nice baseline, so they went after the Department of Defense."

That large load leaving Graham down Clinton Street a few weeks ago -- that was a piece of equipment for an aircraft carrier. That's all Franklin could say about it.

But the folks at Graham are clearly proud of that shipment. There's a picture of it on a wall in one of the plant buildings. It's the largest load of the year -- 225 long, 17 feet wide, with a gross vehicle weight of 486,000 pounds.

Another poster on the same wall notes that Graham has shipped 2,584 pieces of equipment with a gross weight of 5,980,587 pounds.

For all the success of Graham, and the company's reputation as a place where people work long careers, it's hard finding the right people in Batavia, Franklin acknowledged. And it's getting hard. 

"It's tough being in Batavia," Franklin said. "You know, it's in between two cities in New York State, so that makes it difficult. In those higher population areas, obviously, it's easier to pull in people, and then, to top it off, the state doesn't make it very easy to maintain a business and hire people."

The rapid growth of the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, the growth of WNY STAMP and the related business growth in Pembroke is also making the job market more competitive, Franklin agreed.  All of that growth is driven by incentives offered by GCEDC and the state's economic development packages.

"I don't know if our politicians really truly understand that the decisions that they make have ripple effects," Franklin said. "It's hard to be a competitive business when other new businesses are receiving tax breaks. We just have to try to be flexible and figure out different ways to be competitive with them."

As an example, he said this past summer, a benefit Graham offered was allowing employees to work four nine-hour shifts during the week so they get a half-day off on Friday, and hence a longer weekend to stay at home or take a brief vacation.

Franklin said Graham is looking at other creative ways to offer benefits to Graham employees.

"But regardless of where you are in the country, or even the world, hiring people is a challenge," Franklin added.  "In that way, it's not like we're unique to this area."

There are currently 35 openings at Graham in a variety of jobs -- welders, of course, but also engineers, CNC machine operators, buyers, and more -- and Fonda said Graham might be a hidden little gem for area residents who are looking for a career. 

"I don't think a lot of people would even know we're here," Fonda said. "We're kind of tucked back on a little street. You might see us a little bit from Main Street, and maybe a bit behind Miss Batavia, but for the most part, I don't think a lot of people know we're here. And I'm not sure a lot of people know we're hiring."

Submitted photos and information from VA Western NY Healthcare System.

Sgt. Major Bill Joyce, Army (retired), and director of the Genesee County Veteran Service Agency, noticed earlier in the year that our “saluting monuments” representing all the branches of the military services needed refurbishment at the Batavia VA Medical Center.

The monuments are located in front of Building 1.

He then asked employees of Graham Manufacturing in Batavia to restore the monuments. They did so by late July, and in great fashion.

On Tuesday, four employees were recognized by Royce Calhoun, associate director for VA Western New York Healthcare System (center of second photo below).

Calhoun thanked and provided certificates of appreciation to employees of Graham Manufacturing, Batavia, who painstakingly restored and repainted our saluting military branch monuments to their original splendor, says Calhoun.

They are Bob Yungfleisch, Tom Herold, Ed Harding and Pat Coughlin.

"They look terrific! THANK YOU Graham employees and SGM Bill Joyce ... for making this project happen!”

Graham Manufacturing, a publicly traded company, made the decision at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to stop almost all manufacturing operations but keep its entire workforce on the payroll -- including 320 of its Batavia-based employees.

"We continue to pay wages and full benefits to all of our employees," said Jeff Glajch, Graham's chief financial officer.

Keeping employees home helps keep them and the community safe, Glajch said, but also means the company's expenses are exceeding revenue.

When the Payroll Protection Program was announced, with rules that allowed any company with 500 or fewer employees to apply for forgivable loans of up to $10 million to help cover wages and salaries for workers, Graham applied for a loan. There was no stipulation in the first set of rules released by the Treasury Department that discouraged publicly traded companies from accepting the loans.

Graham received a $4.6 million loan.

"We felt at the time it was a legitimate application based on the guidance by the SBA (Small Business Administration)," Glajch said. "Last Thursday, the Treasury changed the guidance on publicly traded companies and suggested that publically traded companies should not receive loans. We felt based on the new guidance that we would return the funds and the funds have been returned, based on this guidance, well before anyone reached out to us."

The loan was repaid along with interest for the two weeks the company possessed the funds.

The Treasury changed the rules for loan eligibility after news reports about publicly traded companies such as Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House received loans. The reports helped raise awareness of well-capitalized companies receiving taxpayer money at a time when many small businesses were unable to tap into the initial pool of $350 billion because the first round of loans was oversubscribed.

Congress has since added another $480 billion to the stimulus package but critics have maintained that publicly traded companies getting loans when they have access to financial resources out of reach to very small businesses is against the spirit of the program.

Glajch said he understands the concern. He said many people view the spirit of the program to help very small companies, particularly restaurants and local shops, who have been hard hit by closures. He said many people view companies with one to 50 employees as needing the most help, but the actual rules allow companies with fewer than 500 employees to apply for the loans.

Those companies with fewer than 500 employers include some of Graham's competitors and those competitors are not necessarily publicly traded. Even though those companies are not publicly traded it doesn't mean they aren't well-capitalized, Glajch said.

"My concern is that we have competitors that are privately held with 200 to 300 employees that have access to capital and, especially grants, that we don't," Glajch said. "There are ma-and-pop's that are struggling and they need this funding and if that was the intent, that was great. It makes sense to fund them and but not our competitors who are much larger."

Besides the 310 employees locally, Graham employs another couple dozen people in other locations. 

Graham could have remained operational. It is an essential business according to New York's pandemic rules. It makes equipment essential to the oil industry and to the Navy. Glajch said the company decided it was more important to keep employees safe than to keep the manufacturing plant open. The firm scaled back to about 20 employees working to fulfill its Navy contracts.

"This is a stressful time for everyone and one of the things we didn't want was for our employees to be concerned about was their financial condition," Glajch said. "This is obviously tough of families so we made the decision to continue to pay our employees. It's important for our employees but it's also important for the community. If they aren't making any money they don't have the ability to spend and that impacts the community also."

Graham is phasing in the return of its workers.

"This is a pretty dramatic change in safety practices and cleaning and sanitation practices," Glajch said. "We've put social distancing rules in place and are slowly bringing people back. We thought bringing back everybody at once was too aggressive. We want to make sure our employees are trained and working in a way that meets all of those safety criteria."

Much of Graham's customer base is the oil industry and coronavirus hits at a time when Russia and other OPEC-block countries were in an oil production dispute, driving down the price of oil, and with people traveling less, oil prices have declined sharply on top of that dispute. So far, that shift in the market hasn't affected Graham, but Glajch said "that will take more time to fully play out."

Investors were informed up-front of Graham's plans to stop production but keep paying employees and there has been no push back from investors, Glajch said.

"Investors understand what we're doing," Glajch said. "They understand we're burning cash by keeping people on payroll. I think at the time we had the conversation, no one wondered how long this would be going on, that they felt this would be finite, like a month or two, and they understood what we were doing."

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) approved incentives for two projects and accepted an application for incentives at its Thursday, Sept. 5, board meeting.

Graham Manufacturing will invest $2.03 million across multiple projects at its City of Batavia campus which will include an expansion of the company’s welding school, repurposing an existing 4,000-square-foot structure and construction of a new 8,875-square-foot warehouse.

The project would start this fall and be in operation by the end of the first quarter of 2020. The project also will contribute to the Batavia Pathway to Prosperity (BP2) Program. The company will receive sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions of approximately $210,000.

Provident Batavia LLC received approval for incentives to construct a 13,000-square-foot addition to an existing office, warehouse, and distribution facility leased to SCP Pools. The $1.194 million project will retain 15 jobs in the Town of Batavia.

This project is estimated to produce a state and regional economic impact of $594,122 and $61,516 in property taxes over 10 years. Total incentives are approximately $156,312.

Finally, the GCEDC Board accepted an application for incentives from Six Flags Darien Lake LLC for a new $1.575 million 60-foot-tall water ride at the Hurricane Harbor water park in the Town of Darien. If approved, Six Flags would receive sales tax incentives of approximately $126,000. The project will help retain 380 jobs at one of the county’s largest sales tax revenue generators.

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) will consider approving incentives for two projects, and consider accepting an application for another project, at its Thursday, Sept. 5, board meeting.

Graham Manufacturing plans to invest $2.03 million across multiple projects at its City of Batavia campus, including expanding the company’s welding school, repurposing an existing 4,000-square-foot structure and construction of a new 8,875-square-foot warehouse.

The company is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions of approximately $210,000.

Provident Batavia LLC is seeking incentives to construct a 13,000-square-foot addition to an existing office, warehouse, and distribution facility leased to SCP Pools in the Town of Batavia. The $1.194 million project would retain 15 jobs in the Town of Batavia and create opportunities for future growth of the company. 

Total incentives are approximately $156,312.

Finally, Six Flags Darien Lake LLC is seeking sales tax incentives of approximately $126,000 for a new $1.575 million 60-foot-tall water ride at the Hurricane Harbor water park in the Town of Darien. The project will help retain 380 jobs at one of the county’s largest sales tax revenue generators.

Thursday's GCEDC Board meeting will take place at its offices at 99 MedTech Drive in Batavia at 4 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) approved incentives for Graham Manufacturing at the board’s Aug. 1st meeting. The GCEDC board also accepted an application for incentives from Wendt Propane.

Graham Manufacturing is investing $1.075 million for capital improvements to expand various properties at its campus in the City of Batavia. The company will renovate an existing 8,000 square feet of buildings, including an expansion and renovation of its 4,000-square-foot welding school to meet market demand for welders.

An existing 4,000-square-foot manufacturing building also will be repurposed and the company will build a new 5,000-square-foot warehouse for storage needs. A supplemental application from Graham Manufacturing was accepted at the meeting, with a public hearing to be held.

“Graham Manufacturing has a very long history in our community and once again the company is demonstrating its commitment to our community by making capital investments in its infrastructure,” said GCEDC Board Chair Paul Battaglia. “When companies are making these types of investments, it means they intend to stay and grow which is always a positive sign.”

Wendt Propane, based in Sanborn in Niagara County, is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions of approximately $125,000 to build a new 9,600-square-foot facility in the Town of Le Roy.

The $1.3 million project consists of $800,000 is construction costs, $410,000 is equipment costs, and $90,000 in real estate costs. Construction of the new facility would result in the creation of four new jobs.

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) will consider approving incentives for Graham Manufacturing and accepting an application for incentives from Wendt Propane at the board’s Aug. 1 meeting.

Graham Manufacturing plans to invest $1.67 million on three projects at its City of Batavia campus, including expanding the company’s welding school, repurposing an existing 4,000-square-foot structure and construction of a new 8,875-square-foot warehouse. The company is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions of approximately $210,000.

Wendt Propane, based in Sanborn in Niagara County, has submitted an application for incentives to build a new 9,600-square-foot facility in the Town of Le Roy. The $1.3 million project would create four new jobs. The company is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions of approximately $125,000.

The GCEDC Board meeting will take place at its offices on 99 MedTech Drive in Batavia at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1. The meeting is open to the public.

Press release: 

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) voted to accept applications for incentives from Graham Manufacturing and Gateway GS, LLC at the agency’s Feb. 7 board meeting. 

Graham Manufacturing is investing $1.075 million for capital improvements to expand various properties at its campus in the City of Batavia. The company will renovate an existing 8,000 square feet of buildings, including an expansion and renovation of its 4,000-square-foot welding school to meet market demand for welders. 

An existing 4,000-square-foot manufacturing building also will be repurposed and the company will build a new 5,000-square-foot warehouse for storage needs. The capital investments will help Graham retain 291 jobs in the City of Batavia.

The company is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions totaling approximately $130,000. For every $1 of public benefit offered, Graham Manufacturing is investing and helping generate an economic contribution/ impact of approximately $5.90 into the economy. 

Gateway GS, LLC is investing $450,000 to build out the interior of an existing 27,000-square-foot speculative building the company constructed in 2018 at the Gateway II Corporate Park in Batavia. The project would create five new jobs.

Gateway GS, LLC intends to lease the space where tenants would provide input to the final buildout. Among the various uses that the building offers includes space for warehouse, distribution, light manufacturing, technology and commercial operations.

The company is seeking sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions totaling approximately $206,000. For every $1 of public benefit offered, Gateway GS, LLC is investing and helping generate an economic contribution/ impact of approximately $12.60 into the economy. 

“We are very excited to support two great projects that will have significant economic impacts for Genesee County and Batavia,” said GCEDC Board Chairman Paul Battaglia.

“These projects demonstrate the importance of assisting companies such as Graham Manufacturing that are retaining jobs and in the instance of Gateway GS creating new jobs and hopefully even more new jobs as they bring in tenants to their spec building.”