Machine shop is at home in Jim Thorpe

Dozens of lathes, milling machines and custom metal work are found throughout BTM Inc.'s manufacturing floor.

It's the type of setting you'd expect in any metalworking shop. But you wouldn't expect to find this kind of shop in a quiet section of Jim Thorpe, tucked near the end of Center Street.

"This is the type of business you'd expect to find in an industrial park, maybe in Allentown," said Dave Henritzy, operations manager at BTM.

"Because we're not directly servicing the community, a lot of people don't even know that we're here," said Leo Bott, CAD/CAM designer. "When I tell people that I work in a machine shop, they're always surprised to find out that it's in Jim Thorpe."

BTM primarily does machine work for the pump and valve industry. Their pump and valve parts are used by oil and gas companies and are also found on Hale fire pumps, which are used by many local fire companies.

Their work is split between creating parts for new projects, and designing and machining pumps and valves for repair projects.

"There are pumps out there that are 100 years old, that people want to repair," Henritzy said.

While their workload is cyclical (for example, oil companies start fewer new projects as the price of oil falls), the company prides itself in a diverse customer base that allows them to stay busy but still meet customer demand for quickly produced, high-quality products.

For example, they've been known to meet rush orders for the Jim Thorpe borough, fixing pump parts when plow trucks break.

"We try to take care of local people first," Bott said.

When you're replacing parts from decades-old machines, it's likely that you won't have a modern blueprint to follow, Henritzy said as he picked up the schematics for an upcoming order.

"The date for this pump is from 1968, and they still need parts," he said.

Many customers will print part schematics from microfilm. It's Bott's job to enter those drawings into a CAD/CAM (computer-assisted design and manufacturing) program, and create a model for their employees to follow as they either manually fabricate the part or program a machine to complete the part.

The business uses a mix of both CNC (computer numerical controlled) and manually operated mills, lathes and other equipment.

Perhaps the company's largest automated equipment are their five- and seven-axis turning mill machines, which allow one worker to drill holes, slots and grooves in a metal slab at the same time - a job that would otherwise take much longer and several different pieces of equipment.

Much of the rest of the work floor is set into work stations or cells, allowing employees to work as a team or individually, quickly moving parts from one nearby machine to another without wasting time or moving large distances.

"Things get done in a process. We've often got one man doing very different things in the same small area. That's the beauty of a small business," Bott said.

Depending on the project, a finished part might also need to be heat treated to harden or temper the metal. Parts are heat-treated off-site by an outside company.

Each part completes its journey in BTM's quality control lab, which is a climate-controlled room protected from the dust and dirt of a normal machine shop. Parts are inspected to ensure they meet the customer's needs before being boxed or crated and prepared for shipping.

Packing projects can take some patience and skill, especially when it comes to some larger items. BTM can manufacture shafts for deep wells that are up to 20 feet long. Because these shafts must arrive at their destination perfectly straight, workers custom-build and pack long, thin wooden crates that protect the unwieldy contents.

While BTM is currently housed in a large manufacturing plant off 12th Street in Jim Thorpe, it began in a small garage bay near the Acme market and was previously known as Beers Tooling and Machine.

The late Dean Beers, founder of the company, worked at Ingersoll Rand and other machine shops in the Lehigh Valley for many years, making a lengthy commute each day to work.

"He thought, 'Why can't I make parts right here?' He wanted to come back home," said Henritzy, who noted that both Dean and his wife, Nancy, were both natives of Jim Thorpe and heavily involved with the company. Nancy continues to serve as owner and CEO of BTM.

Dean, a graduate of CCTI, had also wanted to create job opportunities for local tech graduates. Many of the company's current employees are graduates of CCTI, and the company offers a co-op for one CCTI senior each year. Several co-op students have been hired as full-time employees after graduation.

"We have a great working relationship with the tech school," Bott said.

The choice for many employees to stay at BTM is a simple one, Henritzy said. The company began as a family-run environment, and that continues to this day.

"Everybody is working toward a common goal, and that's what Dean wanted," he said. "We are part of a team. That is the way it has always been. I knew right away that I didn't want to go anywhere else.

BTM Inc.

Location: 1210 W. 12th St., Jim Thorpe

Number of employees: 20

Job opportunities: Accepting applications.

What separates them from others: High attention to customer service and a family-like atmosphere for employees.

One surprising fact: Location. Managers report that most local people don't realize a machine shop is located in Jim Thorpe.