Selas M o v e s — B a g and Baggage Premove planning pays off in low turnover of engineering firm's group of specialized employees JL:N FJTVE DAYS last m o n t h Selas Corp. of: Angelica moved its entire operations f r o m a highly developed industrial sect i o n o£ Philadelphia t o newly completed facilities in rural Dresner, P a . T h e a c t u a l move required weeks of preparation and planning. Behind the d e cision t o expand a n d build i n this count r y setting is a story in itself. Some time ago, rapidly increasing m a r k e t s for Selas heat a n d fluid p r o c e=ssing equipment made it apparent t h a t provision must b e m a d e for considera b l e expansion. T h e original Philadelp h i a plant started 12 years ago w i t h ozne small building b u t h a d since exp a n d e d to more than 77,000 square feet o:f manufacturing area plus laboratory amd office facilities: the plant fully filled t h e old 2,5 acre site. Selas planners set u p a list of imrE3edia,te requirements. Several areas w e r e soon found on t h e basis of these c r i t e r i a . O n e in particular, a small s e c t i o n of U p p e r Dublin Township, idio-wn as Dresher, seemed the best. • Enough land to provide structures a l l o w i n g approximately 130,000 square f e e t o f floor space 'was required. In D r e s h e r , Selas found a nursery which rmad a triangular 11-acre section aLvaila-ble, • Adequate shipping facuities and vatiiities were required; manufactured TLanits range in size u p t o prefabricated f-urnaces weighing 90 tons or more; a n d w a t e r , gas, and electricity are required f o r both research a n d manufacture. IProxirnity to Trenton cut-off of the ^Pennsylvania Railroad and the Pennsylvania Turnpike were in the favor of t h e Dresner location. Gas a n d w a t e r o o u l d he m a d e available b y extension o f existing mains a few thousand feet away. • Early in the planning stage, Selas officials decided that any m o v e would b e feasible only if most of t h e present w o r k i n g force w e r e willing t o m o v e w i t h the plant, Homes of all emp l o y e e s were plotted on a m a p ; it was determined that most employees lived t o t h e north or northwest of the old rplant. The move should then b e in fchat direction. A move to Dresher ©lied this requirement. And just as soon as the Dresher location was dec i d e d upon, all employees a n d candicdates for employment w e r e advised of fche planned move. T h e n e w location ^?vas cited in "help w a n t e d " ads for jenore than a year prior t o t h e actual snove.
As a result of· the special attention to the personnel aspect, there w a s a loss of only 10 out of 500 employees at t h e time of the move; half of t h e s e left t h e company for reasons unrelated to t h e move. Company officials p o i n t out t h a t this is only 0 . 3 % above Selas' normal turnover of 1.8% p e r month a n d still less than t h e national average of over 3 % per month. • Million-Dollar Plant. Philadelphia architects A r m a n d Carroll a n d William Stephenson were called in t o design modernistic buildings to b l e n d into t h e contour of t h e land. These drawings, together w i t h a thorough presentation of the nature of t h e company's business a n d future plans, convinced t h e town commissioners that the n e w plant w o u l d he in the best interests of t h e community. In the c o m p l e t e d plant, research a n d development activities are concentrated in a single b u i l d i n g specifically designed to p r o v i d e coordinated laboratory facilities. Manufacturing operations are i n another -building. A third structure houses design and administrative office areas. All walls are of curtain type construction to allow for expanding a n y building a n d for rearrangement of interiors. A special ceramics laboratory has b e e n located adjoining the ceramics production area in t h e manufacturing building for convenience to t h e necessary kilns.
C a r e h a s been taken to fit the. n e w plant into its environment of homes and farms. The site drops away from the r o a d a n d buildings are recessed into the l a n d s c a p e . Buildings are arranged in a U a r o u n d employees parking and delivery a r e a . • Processing Engineers. Selas is a n organization of processing engineers. Of t h e 5 0 0 employees, 100 a r e engineers specializing in all aspects of h e a t and fluid processing. Company designs and builds h e a t processing equipment, fluid processing apparatus a n d microporous m e m h r a n e s . For example in t h e petrochemical field, Selas graduation heating i s being used to crack in one unit several feed stocks—conventional heat processes are capable of cracking only o n e feed stock—to produce ethylene. E x p e r i e n c e in t h e ceramics used in gas b u r n e r s led t h e company into a seemingly unrelated field—that of fluid separation. Selas ceramic filters are well k n o w n in the chemical a n d p h a r maceutical industry.
Schering Accelerates P l a n t expansion in excess of $2 million annually "for the next several years" a n d extension of its $2.5 million, research program of 1955 is p l a n n e d by Schering. L a s t year it spent $1.8 million for p l a n t expansion, m u c h of i t for increased production of Meticorten and Meticortelone. A n overseas expansion p r o g r a m is also p l a n n e d : Construction of plants is already under w a y in C a n a d a a n d Mexico. I t has also organized a n export subsidiary in Panama. •
Selas moved into t h e n e w plant at D r e s h e r , P a . ? in five days l a s t m o n t h MARCH
26,
1956
C&EN
1431
INDUSTRY
A M A Z I N G ACID Removes tough scale . . . y e t is easy to handle
Rubber "Tree" Grows
its SULFAMIC ACID-a
powerful
Construction work is well under way on Goodrich-Gulf's Avon Lake, Ohio, plant for production of synthetic rubber that has the same molecular structure as tree rubber
new cleaning agent with an unlimited number of industrial uses From Rubber to Ammonia D u Pont Sulfamic Acid i s the only acid c o m bining strong acid efficiency with low corrosive action» Simple, safe, economical Ï . . efficient to u s e . . . cuts downtime costs . . . lengthens equipment service life. And Sulfamic Acid—a free-flowing dry material—makes possible thesafest, most easyytohançlle package. G o n e are bottle problems, breaka g e , damage from spilled acid and inconvenience and.cost of returnable .containers. Γ\ \ HERE'S WHERE SULFAMIC ACID CAN BE USED
' In Cleaning Compounds ^Equipment and Wiresv Brewery Vats „ Brick and Concrete Copper Pots and Pans' Toilet Bowls
>*EG.U.S.PAT.OrR
In Descaling Compound*
fon:
- .
BETTER THINGS FOR BETTER L I V I N G . . . THROUGH CHEMtSTftY *«—
MAIL-
C O U P O N
TODAY!!!
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (Inc.) Grasselli Chemicals Dept., Room N-2539 Wilmington 98, Delaware I would like more information about Du Pont Sulfamic Acid for use in_ Name -Position^ Firm
Address^. City 1432
G&EN
_State_ MARCH
2 6,
1956
