ATAS International Inc. of Upper Macungie Township plays a key role in the construction industry, fabricating the metal products that envelope a building — elements such as roofing systems, wall panels and soffits.
It plans to do some building of its own next spring.
ATAS, which has about 110 employees across two existing plants in the township, is planning to construct a 496,000-square-foot building at 8364 Main St. in the Fogelsville area, a $30 million project that is expected to create about 50 jobs, President Dick Bus said Thursday. The company hopes to break ground by June 1, with an opening planned a year later in June 2020, he said.
Even after the building is done, Bus said the company plans to keep its existing 140,000-square-foot facility on Snowdrift Road and its 60,000-square-foot plant on Grant Way, though ATAS’ headquarters will move from the cramped Snowdrift location to the new structure.
“Depending on what the economy does will determine if we keep all three of them,” Bus said. “The desire is to keep all three.”
And right now, times are good for ATAS, a company that has survived plenty of economic waves since Bus’ parents founded the firm in their Rochester, N.Y., home’s basement 55 years ago. While Bus wouldn’t discuss annual sales, he said the company has been experiencing double-digit growth and has been increasing its exports to places such as South America and the Caribbean. The new plant will give ATAS additional manufacturing capacity, especially for fabricating insulated metal panels — an important product line since changes in the energy code mandated better insulated buildings, Bus said.
The project, which ATAS did not seek any state incentives for, still needs the appropriate approvals.
That process got started Wednesday with Upper Macungie supervisors granting the project conditional approval, allowing ATAS to move on to the land development phase. Up next will be a review by the township Planning Commission, then another vote by supervisors.
Naturally, as with any manufacturing or warehouse development in Upper Macungie, tractor-trailer traffic emerged as an issue.
“I’m really concerned about our quality of life,” Main Street resident Ann Schnur said at the meeting. “There are times when we can’t pull out of our driveway.”
After initially requesting 15 tractor-trailers per day entering the site for delivery of materials and an equal number leaving for shipments, the board agreed to up that number to 25 in and out per day, for a total of 50 daily truck trips.
That agreement all started when Supervisor Sean Gill moved to increase the number of trips from 30 just as the vote was about to be made.
“They could have moved somewhere else — if anything we should up the number of trips,” he said.
Attorney Peter Lehr, referencing standards established by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, said “the starting point” for a manufacturing use would be 100 truck trips, which was quickly dismissed by James Brunell, supervisor president.
“It can’t be 100,” Brunell said.
ATAS Vice President Jim Bus — Dick Bus’ brother — said he would be happy at 50, and an agreement was struck.
Supervisors also agreed to allow ATAS to subdivide 30 acres from a 175-acre parcel owned by the Jaindl Land Co. to construct the facility in the township’s limited light industrial park district, where manufacturing is permitted as a conditional use.
Dick Bus said ATAS has an agreement of sale with Jaindl for the land, pending township approvals.
While ATAS plans to have three plants in Upper Macungie, there will be some shuffling between facilities — of equipment and employees.
Jim Bus said the new facility’s first shift will include 50 shop employees and 50 office employees, with 20 shop employees manning the second shift. With hiring plans of about 50 for the new plant, that would suggest the relocation of about 70 people.
The plant will operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday — first shift from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; second shift from 2:30 to 11 p.m, Jim Bus said. Office employees will work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Outside of the Lehigh Valley, ATAS — founded as Aluminum Trim And Shapes — has a plant in Mesa, Ariz., while its sister company, Brightsmith Coaters, has a coil-coating facility in Morrisville, Bucks County, and a post-painting plant in Trenton, N.J. In total, the company employs 190, Dick Bus said.
As for when the family-owned ATAS came to the Lehigh Valley, the company — having outgrown its 12,000-square-foot facility in Rochester and searching for a location with a larger distribution radius — arrived here in 1985.
There’s a good chance it stays here.
Dick Bus said he and his brother each have two children involved in the business, which now spans three generations.