H&S Tool and Engineering whose specialty is CNC milling and turning currently has 22 employees, including 15 machinists. He said with the expansion, they are already looking for two more machinists, a CNC lathe operator and a CNC milling operator.

“In our five-year plan, we hope the expansion will push us to purchase additional equipment to increase our customer base and employees,” said Hetlzer. “We’re hoping to grow by another 10 machinists in the next three to five years.”

St. Pierre said they will also be hiring a quality control person for their newly built inspection room. Although the company is ISO 9001 compliant, St. Pierre said the new inspector will help them get through the process of becoming ISO 9001 certified.

“It will help to open up other doors for us with companies that require ISO certification,” said St. Pierre. “Many of them require certain ways tools are calibrated.”

“And we can also bid on jobs with companies that are overseas or from the military,” added Hetzler.

Hetzler said the key to the success of their business is in always having what a business needs on hand or being able to create the product in a flash.

Hetlzer said another advantage they have is that many of the industries they do business with — the energy sector, oil refineries, LNG and nucleur facilties — have not fallen on such tough financial times as other industries.

“We’ve seen no slowdown at all. In fact, last year was our best year ever as far as sales, and this year is off to a good start,” said Hetzler. He said the new building will allow future expansion if needed, though it will likely be a few years down the road. “If we grow more, we will need the whole building. But it’s a wonderful problem to have.”

Original Article by Jay Pateakos, Herald News Staff Reporter
Edited by Matthew Dill