We’re celebrating the success of a great WNY manufacturer – SolEpoxy was featured in a recent article in the Olean Times Herald.
When Jeff Belt took over the epoxy manufacturing plant on Franklin Street in 2010 and founded SolEpoxy, he knew he was taking a risk.
At that time, the facility’s Germany-based owner, Henkel Corp., was planning to shut down the facility and leave its 105 employees without jobs because the cost of doing business in the United States while competing in a global economy was too great.
But since taking over, the epoxy manufacturer has experienced steady growth and was able to keep all of its clients.
“There’s still a lot of risk,” said Mr. Belt, president of SolEpoxy. “But overall, things are going well. When we acquired the place, we retained 38 employees who were on-site at the time, and right now we have 58. We’ve also retained all of our customers, and that was despite the fact that when we took over all of our competitors were very aggressive in obtaining all of our customers.”
Mr. Belt said his company is poised for continued growth, in part, thanks to assistance SolEpoxy received from Insyte Consulting, a not-for-profit organization that helps manufacturers in Western New York improve operations and expand.
Photo: Neil Linderman/Olean Times Herald
