From left, PowerFlo Solutions employees Chuck Lucas and Shy Piggott put together a frame for a transformer Thursday afternoon at the company's Ohio 7 facility in Reno. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

RENO — PowerFlo Solutions is expanding its footprint in the Mid-Ohio Valley as demand grows for the electrical equipment it builds for data centers, hospitals, banks, telecommunications companies and other high-power industries.

Jim Vuksic, owner of PowerFlo Solutions, said the company has grown faster than expected since it began building out its local operation a little over two years ago on Ohio 7 in Reno.

“It just took off,” Vuksic said during a tour of the facility. “Two-and-a-half years ago, this was an empty field.”

PowerFlo Solutions builds power distribution units, static transfer switches, transformer components and related electrical equipment. The equipment is often associated with data centers and artificial intelligence, but Vuksic said the company’s products are used in many industries that rely on steady, high-capacity power.

“Everything that we do, it isn’t just a data center,” Vuksic said. “It can be hospitals, it can be banks.”

Tim Chancellor, who works for PowerFlo Solutions, hauls a crate across the floor of the warehouse in Reno Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Wednesday that PowerFlo Solutions plans to invest $20 million to establish advanced manufacturing operations at the former Hino Motors Manufacturing facility in Williamstown. State officials said the project is expected to create between 120 and 200 full-time jobs and reuse the 240,000-square-foot site.

Vuksic said the Williamstown facility will help the company address space needs as production grows. He said PowerFlo is already renting warehouse space.

“Once you get moving again, you don’t have any room,” Vuksic said. “We’re already renting warehouse space. Well, we don’t have to do that. We’ll start building that over there.”

During a tour of PowerFlo Integrated, Trent Weber, chief operating officer, described the manufacturing process from raw steel to finished industrial skids. He said raw steel comes into the facility, is cleaned through a beam-blasting machine and then moves to a laser coper, which uses a six-axis laser to cut steel beams for fabrication.

Weber said the company is using large weld tables to build skids that can reach close to 50 feet long and 16 feet wide. Smaller skids can be produced several at a time, while larger units are handled one at a time.

Construction to expand the PowerFlo Integrated facility in Reno continues Thursday with hopes to finish things up in the next few months. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

The skids include wiring, power distribution units, transfer switches and control panels before they are tested and prepared for shipment, Weber said.

“All of these were wired, tested, ready to go out the door,” Weber said of one project.

Weber said the company’s work supports critical electrical systems, not just data centers. He said hospitals, cell phone companies, power plants and other industrial users depend on equipment that can keep power consistent.

“You want power to stay there,” Weber said. “You have generators. You have power distribution units. You have transformers that keep the power clean, so nothing shuts off.”

Weber said PowerFlo is also investing in quality-control and document-control systems inside its production space. Workstations will include computers and large screens where employees can view engineering drawings and quality-control information. He said the company is ISO certified and moving toward a full 5S program, a workplace organization system focused on standardizing and improving efficiency.

The warehouse floor of PowerFlo Solutions in Reno fills with workers focused on projects Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

“With ISO, we agreed that we’re getting paperless out here,” Weber said. “Everything is done on screen and on computer.”

Weber said the company has nearly 60 employees now and has a goal of reaching 120 to 125 employees by the end of the year. The operation includes assemblers, welders, electricians, machine operators, programmers, engineers, production managers and facilities staff.

“For me, that’s the fun part,” Weber said. “We have a spot for everybody.”

He said PowerFlo can bring in employees straight out of high school or trade school and train them in electrical or manufacturing work. Certified welders, electricians, machine operators and engineers are also part of the operation.

“It’s not just coming in and your only role you’re ever going to have is an assembly guy,” Weber said. “We’ve got opportunity for growth.”

Vuksic said the company has focused on vertical integration, making as much of its equipment in-house as possible to reduce delays and improve control over production. He said the company has facilities in Columbus and Gainesboro, Tennessee, where transformers are built.

He said supply chain delays helped push him into the business.

“I kept hearing about, ‘couldn’t get this, we’re late on that,’ and everybody just accepted the fact that we’re going to be late,” Vuksic said. “I said, ‘You know what, we can do better than that.'”

Some supply issues remain, particularly with breakers, Vuksic said, but the company has tried to control more of the manufacturing process from start to finish.

Vuksic also said the company developed a testing system that allows it to fully test equipment while recirculating much of the power used in the process. He said that helps the company test products without drawing the same amount of energy that would otherwise be required.

“We get to test it to 100%,” Vuksic said. “We did that different than anybody else, because it made sense.”

Weber said the company also emphasizes U.S.-sourced materials.

“All of our steel is U.S. steel,” Weber said. “It’s all American steel.”