Exal Production ‘Severely Impacted’ by Evacuation

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Production at Exal Corp. was “severely impacted” by Monday morning’s shutdown of its plant here because of the chlorine leak at the Youngstown wastewater treatment plant (READ STORY), a company official says.

Exal, which manufactures aluminum containers for the beverage and personal products industries, was notified around 9:30 a.m. Monday about the leak at the municipal plant, said Brenda Oman, vice president of finance and administration.

“Production will be severely impacted, probably over two million units,” Oman told The Business Journal.

“It will take us several hours to start back up in the morning,” she added.

Exal, founded in 1993, operates container assembly lines and its corporate headquarters at One Performance Place. It also operates plants in Argentina. The company was told it can restart the plant here at 7 a.m.,  Oman said.

The chlorine leak resulted in the evacuation of all the businesses nearby in Performance Place Business Park, including Exal. About 145 employees were evacuated, Oman said.

Exal houses 16 production lines in two buildings at the industrial park, totaling nearly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing area.

“It was a very smooth evacuation. We are very proud of all of our employee and the orderly way that they all left the property,” Oman remarked.

Between 500 and 700 gallons of chlorine were released before the leak was sealed, said Battalion Chief Sil Caggiano of the Youngstown Fire Department.

The businesses and roadways shut down because of the leak will remain closed until Tuesday morning, Caggiano said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.