WELLSVILLE, N.Y. — After sitting idle for nearly two years, the former Dresser-Rand facility in Wellsville will once more be home to a company with roots in the area’s oil industry.
Kinley Construction Group of Arlington, Texas, announced that its newest division, Kinley Advanced Technical Services (KATS), is moving into the former Dresser-Rand manufacturing complex on Coats Street where it will provide service, maintenance and parts manufacturing for a wide range of industrial engines, equipment and components.
KATS specializes in inspection, repair and overhaul of complex steam turbines, trip and throttle valves, reciprocating compressors and engines and centrifugal compressors.
Before moving to the Lone Star State, the Kinley family originally lived in Olean, where it still maintains construction and oil businesses. Kinley Corp., a general contractor and construction management company serving the Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, is headquartered in Allegany.
“KATS service and repair facility will soon open in Wellsville, bringing new jobs to the Allegany County area,” a Kinley news release stated. “The facility was a former manufacturing facility that closed in 2020, taking with it multiple manufacturing jobs. Given Kinley Construction’s rich history in Western New York, KATS is especially proud to play an important role in driving economic growth in the region.”
About a dozen workers are already at the facility in Wellsville, where they are refurbishing the former maintenance building. Ben Hall, out of KATS’ Pennsylvania operations, is helping with the renovations. He said that it is not certain when the facility will be ready, but that the company is looking at March.
“This will keep growing,“ he said of the Wellsville site, “KATS is looking to build a legacy here. We know how much it means to Wellsville.”
He added that no job applications are being taken at the building site and advises those interested in employment to go to the company website, www.kinleyconstruction.com.
The company’s website chronicles its history, which dates back to the mid-1800s when Adam Kinley started tannery-manufacturing and timber harvesting in Western New York.
“In the late 1800s, oil was discovered in the region and Adam Kinley’s son, William, formed Kinley Oil Company in 1909. Kinley Oil Company continued producing oil and gas in Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania for the next 80 years.”
The contribution of the Kinley family to the oil history of the county was recognized by the Bolivar Pioneer Oil Museum in 2016 when James Kinley, past president of Kinley Oil, was inducted into the Wall of Fame highlighting the pioneer oil producers of the area.
According to its history, “The Kinley family extended their operations in the early 1980s by establishing oil and gas operations in Oklahoma and Texas. At the same time, they began industry-related construction projects across the U.S. This was spear-headed by J.L. Kinley, the fifth generation of Kinley family to own and manage the business. Now known as Kinley Construction Group (KCG), the company is headquartered in Arlington, Texas.”
KCG specializes in industrial projects related to fuel, energy and transportation throughout the United States and North America, focusing primarily on hydrocarbon products including crude oil, ethanol, liquid propane gas, natural gas, condensate, jet fuel, diesel and gasoline.
The Wellsville industrial site was redesignated the Wellsville Business Park in December 2020 after Siemens Energy closed operations there earlier that year. There is 400,000 square feet of factory and 50,000 square feet of office space at the former Dresser and Siemens site, which had been vacant since April 2020.
The site had been one of the largest employers in the area for decades, with manufacturing contracts both national and international. It was one of the largest employers of a skilled, industrial workforce and at any given time employing as many as 1,000 workers.
The facility was first opened as the Moore Steam Turbine Co. in 1916, going through several mergers until it was acquired by Dresser Industries in 1985. Dresser Industries partnered with Ingersoll Rand in 1986 to create Dresser-Rand. In 2015, German conglomerate Siemens purchased Dresser-Rand.
Siemens officials announced in 2018 the division would be sold to Curtiss-Wright, which immediately announced it would close the facility and move production to an existing plant in South Carolina.
This week’s news regarding the former Dresser site in Wellsville comes as city of Olean and economic development officials await finalization of plans to bring steel fabrication operations to the former Dresser-Rand industrial site in North Olean.
Cimolai-HY plans to invest $55 million and to hire 246 employees over three years at the state-of-the-art steel fabrication facility in a retrofitted space on the 88-acre former Dresser-Rand site. Siemens Energy announced in 2021 that manufacturing would be shut down at the former Dresser-Rand operation, resulting in the loss of more than 500 jobs.
It was announced at the time that about 300 engineer and other office jobs would be retained at the research and development building on the former Dresser-Rand property.
