State incentives and a skilled labor pool were part of what
brought Microtech Knives to Bradford in 2005, but owner Anthony
Marfione said Wednesday that three years of unfulfilled promises
are behind the decision to pull out of Bradford all together.
“We’ve been here three years and we’ve given it about as good a
run as we can,” said Marfione, founder and chief executive officer
of Microtech Knives and Microtech Small Arms Research. “We cannot
employ the people we need. We have a difficult time getting skilled
folks.”
Sara Andrews, executive director of the Office of Economic and
Community Development, said later Wednesday that she had not been
in contact with Marfione to confirm his plans to leave.
“We are still trying to offer them assistance. We’ve not been
able to get a call back,” she said. “It’s always a disappointment
when a company decides to leave. We’ll make every effort we can to
try to keep them here.”
Andrews acknowledged that there are workforce issues in the
Bradford area, and said that is a problem the local governments are
trying to address in the Master Plan.
“I think the OECD did everything they could to help this project
out,” Marfione said. “The city and this area have done everything
they could within their means to make this work.”
He said the only assistance that ended up coming from the
state’s ,1.62 million incentive package was a state Department of
Economic and Community Development Opportunity Grant for
,200,000.
“The only thing they can say is we didn’t meet our employment
expectations,” Marfione said.
“We can’t find them,” said Karl Walter, executive vice president
of MSAR, referring to potential hires.
“The state was disappointing. We do intend to pay back the grant
money if they contest it or want it back,” Marfione said. “If they
could provide the people, we’d hire them.”
Marfione explained Microtech employs 44 people and “can’t get
beyond that. We’re not getting the employee draw. We had every
intention to create new job growth. We were excited because we were
basically ensured” there would be local people to fill the jobs, he
said.
Of the employees currently at the company, the average commute
is 45 minutes to an hour, Marfione said. People live in Warren,
Kane, Ridgway or in New York state, and very few of the employees
come from Bradford.
Describing what he’s heard from potential employees, Marfione
said, “Nobody wants to relocate to this area.”
The housing market is sluggish, he said, and other factors keep
people from building.
“The whole thing with oil rights discourages people.”
He explained that he and his wife were looking to build a home,
but found they could not obtain land with mineral rights. Instead,
the mineral rights belonged to other entities who would have the
right to drill on that land, even if a house were to be built on
it.
“It certainly discouraged me,” he said.
Andrews said the OECD had put together a packet of local
available housing for Microtech to show to potential employees, but
hadn’t heard back from the company regarding any interest in OECD
assistance.
Meanwhile, Marfione said the company has been bringing in
employees from other parts of the nation to fill necessary
positions. Walter hails from Georgia.
“We’ve exhausted everything we can do in this location,”
Marfione said, explaining the company will outgrow its space in the
Chestnut Street incubator within a month. “We attempted to work
with the realtors who own the former Bradford Mall. They weren’t at
all receptive.”
Marfione explained that the company has temporarily halted
production of its line of tactical knives, because of space and
labor constraints, to launch its line of firearms. Because the
manufacturing of firearms is highly regulated by the government,
every worker must have a high school degree or an equivalency, must
not have been convicted of any felonies and must pass drug tests,
which further limits the labor pool.
“Mr. Marfione himself is down there working machines,” Walter
said.
“I work a seven-day work week, 15 hours a day,” Marfione said.
“This is as good as it’s gotten for me as I direct this company
from behind a grinding wheel in this shop.”
Walter is coordinating what will begin as a company expansion to
a southern state, “one of the Carolinas or Georgia,” and will
ultimately lead to the company’s relocation. He did not specify
when the company will pull out of Bradford completely.
“We must reintroduce our knife line by 2009,” he said.
Marfione said 98 percent of the current employees are relocating
with the company.
Walter explained the line of firearms produced by Microtech was
introduced in January of this year, and within three days,
“response was in the six digits.”
The overwhelming response in orders is a “good and bad problem
to have,” as lack of a skilled work force leads to concerns over
meeting the demand for the firearms.
“Our biggest concern is we can’t miss our global opportunity by
not being able to employ people,” Marfione said.
