GROVE CITY, Pa. – Elected officials and representatives of the private and nonprofit sectors on Thursday presented an upbeat outlook for Mercer County’s future, as organizations and businesses navigate the many challenges impacting their respective industries.
This message was predominant during the fourth annual Mercer County Economic Summit, hosted by Penn-Northwest Development Corp. at Grove City College. The event presented five panels staffed by specialists that reflect a cross-section of northwestern Pennsylvania’s economy – including manufacturing, health care and workforce development.
“The objective is to really shine a light on all of the innovation and economic growth that is going on in Mercer County,” said Rod Wilt, executive director of Penn-Northwest. “Business in Mercer County is thriving, and opportunities here are abundant.”
Wilt said the manufacturing sector is especially strong and diversified, noting many companies are engaged in advanced processes and technologies that have enabled them to compete on a global scale.
“A lot of us watched the launch of Artemis II on its way to the moon,” he said. “Most people don’t realize that in the Shenango and Mahoning valleys that there are a lot of components that were made right here that were on that spaceship.”
Artemis II was successfully launched Wednesday on the first manned mission to the moon since 1972. The program will take astronauts around the moon and venture further into space than any human has gone before.
Attracting a Workforce
Among those companies that produced parts for the Artemis’ Orion spacecraft is Ellwood Group, which has a large manufacturing plant in New Castle, Pa., as well as a plant in Sharon in Mercer County, said Anna Barensfeld, vice president of strategic initiatives at Ellwood.
“It’s just a great example of manufacturing and the future of manufacturing in the United States,” Barensfeld said. “It’s the same kind of excitement level from the Apollo programs, where there was a moment for all of America to gather around and watch something and see the impact of what we’re able to engineer and build.”
It’s this “wow” factor that Barensfeld feels should be promoted to young people to encourage them to pursue careers in manufacturing. “There are many, many small manufacturers, midscale manufacturers and large-scale manufacturers that are involved in that supply chain,” availing an abundance of opportunities for workers.
Barensfeld is also a founding member and president of the Lawrence Mercer Manufacturers Coalition, which explores opportunities to build the workforce and raise awareness of careers in manufacturing.
“As a society, I think we’ve done youth a disservice in not teaching them what is available in manufacturing,” she said.
Barensfeld was among a panel that discussed developments in preparing and attracting the workforce of tomorrow. Other panelists included Jezree Friend, vice president of the Manufacturer & Business Association; Kevin Reilly, executive vice president of The Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania; and John Frangakis, CEO of Reynolds Services Inc. of Greenville.
Reilly, for example, spoke of the success of the annual Building Trades Expo, usually held in September at the Canfield Fairgrounds in Mahoning County. The event last year drew 6,500 students – including some from Mercer County – over the course of three days where they were exposed to career opportunities in construction and the trades. “We’ve had tremendous growth from the Pennsylvania side,” he said.
Friend, whose organization helps train employees, said he’s working to improve Pennsylvania’s regulatory environment and advance training in disciplines such as artificial intelligence. “We’ve taken a leadership approach in AI in training the workforce, but also the realities of what to expect in the future.”
Manufacturing in Mercer
Manufacturing across the county remains strong, those on a panel that discussed the future of the sector agreed.
JR Reazor, general manager at Castle Canning, said his company employs 38 and is positioning for growth. “The good news is that it’s happening,” he said. The Sharon company is a canned meal manufacturer that is a major supplier to food banks and pantries across the country.
“In 2025, we sold 41 truck loads the whole year,” he said. “This year, between Q1 and Q2, we’ve done 32. We’ve got a strong quarter coming up.”
He said he’s contemplating expanding the company’s line in the future to serve more institutional customers such as schools and the hospitality industry. He also credits partnerships through federal agricultural programs and organizations such as Penn-Northwest, which has assisted it with efforts to expand.
Also on the manufacturing panel was Curtis Haines, human resources compliance officer at Wabtec, a company that employs approximately 1,000 people at two plants in Grove City. The company reconditions and builds locomotive engines for the railroad industry.
He said in his industry, mergers and acquisitions across the railroad industry has made the business more challenging to compete in the domestic market. However, the company has found success in exporting its products worldwide.
Five years ago, between 50% and 60% of the work was sold to domestic customers, Haines said. “Now, the scale has tipped for us, where we are actually exporting more work than we are doing domestically,” he said. “We are now playing ball with manufacturers in India and China. For us, it’s all about driving home those efficiencies that we can provide as an organization.”
Brent Ward, president of Integrated Fabrication & Machine, represented his company, which manufactures components used in the electrical transformer markets.
Ward said about 25 years ago, Integrated Fab turned its focus to supplying components to the power industry since it was clear that the grid required a major overhaul. “The investment that’s going on in the power grid in North America is unprecedented,” he said. Advances in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, renewable energy – all are areas that are tied into the grid.
There’s more to come, Ward said, as demand for electric power is certain to increase over the coming years. “The grid needs to be about 2.5 to three times the size it is right now,” he said. “There’s huge pent-up demand.”
There are, nonetheless, challenges, these manufacturers said, citing rising costs of materials and energy as constant pressures in their respective markets.
Rural Health Care’s Opportunities and Challenges
Three executives from local hospitals said the health care industry faces the same sort of challenges as many do in manufacturing – workforce shortages, rising costs and uncertainty related to federal regulations and policies.
“In rural health care, there is a difference in payer mix,” said Todd Tamalunas, CEO of Sharon Regional Health. “Here in the rural areas, we’re 70% government insured, which means Medicaid and Medicare. When they change any type of reimbursement at the federal level or state level, it impacts an organization that has those kinds of statistics. So it does impact us.”
Dave Patton, president of UPMC Jameson and Horizon, said working closely with federally funded health centers can help fill some of the gaps for those who are underinsured. “They are key to some of the changes going on in Medicare,” he added.
New technology is also transforming the industry and is especially valuable for rural hospitals, said Christopher Clark, president and CEO of AHN Saint Vincent, Grove City and Westfield Memorial Hospitals. “AI – love it,” he told the audience. The technology has helped streamline processes such as record keeping and information gathering, he noted.
Meanwhile, advances such as telehealth have helped engage patients in rural communities who might have a difficult time traveling or live a long distance from a hospital, Clark said.
“You can do specialty evaluations so that the team on-site could deliver the care,” he said. This proactive approach negates the need to transfer the patient to Pittsburgh or Cleveland for evaluation, he added.
Development Outlook
Penn-Northwest’s Wilt said existing companies across the county continue to build on their strengths, while there are prospects for new businesses.
One of the major opportunities is the 206-acre site just off exit 15 along Interstate 80. Penn-Northwest is working with a prospective end-user that could result in a 1 million-square-foot facility that employs 1,000 people.
He hopes that a formal announcement on a project could be made in the fall. “The project has taken on a new scope. It’s a little bigger than what we thought it was a year ago at this time.”
Nevertheless, while such major projects are important, small and midsize businesses continue to drive the local economy.
“Manufacturing is alive and well,” Wilt said. “While we are entertaining activity in data centers and artificial intelligence, things still need to be made. We have some great companies, large and small, that are on the cutting edge of these innovations.”
“We’re rebuilding our economy 10, 20, 30 jobs at a time,” Wilt said.
Pictured at top: From left are Jezree Friend, vice president of the Manufacturer & Business Association; Kevin Reilly, executive vice president of the Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania; Anna Barensfeld, vice president of strategic initiatives at Ellwood; and John Frangakis, CEO of Reynolds Services Inc.