A fire that gutted an essential 70,000-square-foot inventory building at New Pig Corp. in Tipton is still under investigation, but company officials continue to push forward to build a new building on the site.
The fire broke out in Building Two at the contained absorbant manufacturing site at approximately 10 p.m. on Oct. 31. When the smoke cleared early the next morning, the entire contents of the building – which included the company’s entire inventory, customer service area, sales area, technical services area, distribution, building and grounds and cafeteria – was amongst a pile of mangled metal and smoldering debris.
Although fire investigators have been feverishly trying to determine what caused the fire, company Chairman Ben Staplefeld said a cause has not yet been determined.
“The insurance company, the Pennsylvania fire marshal and literally dozens of different inspectors have been on this site,” said Staplefeld, noting the area remains under the jurisdiction of the fire marshal. “We had heard that it (the cause) would be turned over to us a few weeks ago, but it hasn’t. Anything I would say would be pure speculation. We’re hoping to know more soon, but as of today, a cause has yet to be determined.”
Although there’s no determination as to what caused the fire, there is movement of the aftermath. Staplefeld said the company is ready to rebuild.
“We are now in the process of rebuilding Building Two and are taking the steps you have to take until we can start building,” said Staplefeld. “We wanted the building yesterday, but what we think could be reasonable is that it will be ready to operate by the end of July.”
The reason for the slow progress is due to legal muck the company must wade through. These include approvals from the state Department of Environmental Protection and Army Corps of Engineers.
“We’re working on the design of the building,” said Staplefeld. “It’s not going to be smaller. If anything, it’s going to be bigger.”
Amazingly, the company did not miss a beat because of the destructive fire.
“We are as much back to normal as you can be, considering we lost our entire inventory,” said Staplefeld. “We had customer service back operating by eight o’clock the next day.
“Not fully, but enough that it was not an inconvenience to our customers. And that was our goal.”
According to Staplefeld, as he and his employees were standing outside the building on Halloween night and watching as flames shot through the roof of the building and all had the same thought: “No matter what, this has got to be invisible to our customers.”
“This was not their (customers) problem,” said Staplefeld. “It was ours.”
Staplefeld said hundreds of employees worked around the clock for “days and days and days” to make sure the customers were not inconvenienced.
“In a period of a little bit more than three weeks, we came out of backorder status, which is an incredible accomplishment,” said Staplefeld. “I had no doubt that the people at New Pig would respond to the challenge and they did just that. They’re a special group of people.”
Staplefeld also credited the businesses and community for the ability to continue to push forward despite the fire.
“The vendors that supply our raw materials and the local groups that supported us during this time have been tremendous,” said Staplefeld. “People and groups offered us trucks, warehouse space, food, highlifts, forklifts, tractors, drivers, workers..whatever they could.
“Nobody was asking for anything, these tremendous people just wanted to help.”
As the company awaits the “go-ahead” from local and state agencies for the proper building permits, New Pig continues to accommodate employees and the business itself with outside assistance.
It is currently leasing the previous C-Cor.net building in the Ardie J. Dillen Industrial Park and houses the customer sales, service and technical support areas. The company is renting a building from Ward Warehousing for inventory. “Right now, everyone is sitting on everyone else’s lap and bumping elbows,” said Staplefeld. “It’s not ideal working conditions, but it’s getting the job done.”
According to the website, since 1985, New Pig has been providing innovative products and services to industrial, institutional and governmental facilities. The company has grown into a multi-channel, multi-brand supplier of products designed specifically for liquid management, industrial safety and plant maintenance. It is committed to helping workplaces worldwide get clean…and stay clean. Today, New Pig serves more than 170,000 customers in more than 40 countries.
When New Pig invented the Original PIG® Absorbent Sock, the world’s first contained absorbent, it revolutionized industrial cleanup industry. Today, the company offers the largest selection of contained absorbents in the world: absorbent mats, socks, booms, pillows and pans. It also carries well-known, proven products for material handling, personal protection, spill response, liquid filtration and workplace safety.
