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Production might shift to Westmoreland County, bring 40 jobs

The businessman who is reviving Mount Pleasant’s L.E. Smith Glass Co. has purchased the assets of a defunct Virginia metals company and is considering whether to run them both in Westmoreland County.

William A. Kelman yesterday said he may keep the company, Cross Stone Products, in Bristol, Va., or shift its production to L.E. Smith’s facility in Mount Pleasant -- a move that could create an estimated 40 jobs.

"We believe that the business is going to boom either way -- whether we leave it down (in Virginia) or bring it up here," Kelman said. "We’re doing a cost-benefit analysis."

Cross Stone’s giftware products -- specialty metal containers and items such as polished umbrella stands, waste cans and planters -- complement the handmade tableware and decorative glass made at L.E. Smith, he said.

Kelman said he learned Cross Stone’s assets were available from a client of L.E. Smith. Cross Stone started business in 2002 with assets and products acquired from Bristol Brass & Copper, which shut down following a fire the previous year.

"One of the great things about Cross Stone is that many of the clients of the glass company are looking for complementary items," he said. "We’ve already had significant interest."

The city of Bristol, Va., owns the old Bristol Brass plant and is lobbying for Kelman to lease manufacturing space there. He said there are also benefits to bringing Cross Stone production to the L.E. Smith site.

Kelman, whose father owns Pittsburgh Box Annealing, formed a new company, Port Augustus Glass Co., to buy the assets of L.E. Smith. It had been in court-ordered receivership, one in a string of troubled local glass companies that have closed or slashed production.

The sale was completed earlier this year and Kelman said L.E. Smith’s glassmaking furnaces have been restarted slightly ahead of schedule to meet customer demand. "Our order log is really filling up," he said.