After it’s grand opening, GapVax employees are settling into their new facility.
The industrial vacuum truck company renovated a 90,000 square foot building. The $10 million project has been in the works for the last two-and-a-half years.
“It’s exciting. Everyone’s excited, the employees, everyone. It’s been a large undertaking, but we’ve finally hit the goal line,” said GapVax President and Co-owner Gary Poborsky.
The new facility will allow for quicker and more efficient production. The building has enough space for a production line to paint and assemble the trucks from start to finish.
“We’re set up now to increase production from about 90 trucks a year to be able to do 250 trucks a year or almost one truck a day,” Poborsky said.
Not only will the facility help business, company officials said it will add 50 to 75 jobs over the next five years.
“We created about three or four right now, but we project to create about 10 to15 each year for the next five years,” Poborsky said.
“As we grow, we’re going to need painters, assemblers, people with hydraulic, electrical and basic assembly skills,” said Greg Suppes, Vice President of Operations.
The company has more plans to expand, moving production into an adjacent facility. However, other expansions won’t happen for another year or two.
Right now, the company is focusing on settling into the new building, and looking forward to creating opportunities for people in the area.
“The Johnstown area, I believe, has the highest work-ethic and skills of any area in the United States. We want to take advantage of the labor force that we have here,” Poborsky said.