Nick Zent, chief engineer for JLE Industries of Dunbar, Pa., shows a lathe that puts threads on both used and new pipes.
BENWOOD, W.Va. — The former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel facility in Benwood soon will be home to a company doing business with the natural gas industry.
JLE Industries, based in Dunbar, Pa., has invested over $6 million to establish a state-of-the-art facility at the site to inspect and place threading on pipe used to carry natural gas. The 80,000-square-foot plant is expected to open in January and employ as many as 45 when fully operational.
JLE will pick up pipes at drilling sites, then truck them to the plant where they will be placed onto conveyors belts outside the building. These belts will move them inside toward a large magnetic resonance imaging scanner – similar to ones used in hospitals for CAT scans – which will X-ray the pipes for defects. Those needing new threads will be routed toward a lathe constructed for that purpose, while the good pipes will go toward trucks that return them to the drilling site.
Workers will never have to touch the pipe, chief engineer Nick Zent said.
Inspecting pipes will actually be a new business venture for JLE, which specializes in logistics and transportation for companies. But Zent said more customers in the natural gas industry were expressing the need to have pipes inspected near their sites, and JLE saw the need to accommodate them.
Last June, JLE inquired about setting up operations in the former steel plant facility in Benwood, which had been closed and used for cold storage during the past 20 years. The facility – located in the BIPCO industrial park – is owned by Mull Industries, and was built in the late 1940s.
JLE moved in to the plant in July, and immediately began extensive cleaning and painting work. Workers spent weeks scrubbing the plant’s floor clean, according to Zent. There was no adequate electrical system or working lights, and fans had to be installed.
Zent said JLE has applied for a certification from the American Petroleum Institute that will permit the company to do cuts and inspections on pipe not possible at other facilities in the immediate area.
Zent and Chris Harris, chairman of the board for JLE, both thanked Benwood officials for their assistance in facilitating the project.
“We’re excited about opening here, and the city has been great to us,” Harris said. “Even though the market is tough, we’re excited about being at the epicenter of all active (natural gas exploration and production) projects for the region.”
JLE soon will be hiring shop workers and secretaries for the plant. Those interested in applying for the jobs should contact JLE human resources at 304-233-1748.
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