All sorts of products, from airplanes to airbags, need to meet industry and federal safety standards before they go on the market. One of the laboratories that assesses how well they meet those standards is moving into new, bigger headquarters in New Castle so it can run more tests on those products.
Keystone Compliance, located about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, tests consumer products, military equipment and almost everything in between to make sure it can withstand safety hazards and threatened electronic interference. This takes place in a 7,200-square foot building staffed by a dozen workers.
The company is now renovating a building about three times that size, located three miles away. General Manager Sam Mastovich says the move will accommodate Keystone Compliance’s expansion into testing how well products stand up to vibrations, extreme temperatures, differences in altitude and other changes in the environment. “We already have the customer base,” Mastovich says. “We just need the equipment.”
A $523,000 loan from the state Department of Community and Economic Development will help pay for the renovation and equipment purchases, a project with an estimated cost of $747,000. Mastovich says the move should by complete by January. Over the next three years the company expects to hire 15 more people, mostly engineers and technicians.
Source: Sam Mastovich, Keystone Compliance
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen