C&J Industries, a Meadville, Pennsylvania-based plastic injection molding manufacturer and medical device manufacturer, is investing nearly $7 million in its growing assembly business with a new clean room, collaborative robotics and more.

For more than 61 years, C&J Industries has been an innovator in the injection molding and specialty assembly spaces.

Now, the employee-owned company will be in a position to expand its loyal customer base thanks to a larger facility footprint and updates to the equipment within. The 214,000-square-foot facility is currently being renovated with a 25,000-square-foot addition, including a new “clean room,” adding more molding and assembly capacity.

“The building itself is being expanded, and that is primarily for a new clean room that is being built to handle some incoming jobs from existing customers, as well as to help provide molded components for
a new job that we’re getting in Assembly,” said assembly supervisor John Beers, in a company press release. “We have a clean room that is being expanded for a new job that’s in assembly, and that will be a fully automated piece of equipment, which is pretty exciting.”

When completed, the facility upgrades will allow C&J to increase production volume, take on jobs of a larger scope, and expand services to new clients. The company does plastic contract manufacturing for the medical, consumer products, telecommunications, industrial and transportation markets.

According to an article in the Meadville Tribune, general construction of the addition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024 with the area to be in use by the end of June 2024. The 60 additional jobs are expected to be during the next couple of years as new work is added.

The expansion also will connect C&J’s plant with the adjacent former Penn Plaza property on Terrace Street, which it purchased seven years ago for $1.2 million with an eye on growth.

In October 2016, C&J Industries bought the plaza complex — 53,000 square feet of building and 10 acres of property adjacent to the north side of C&J.

For more information, visit cjindustries.com

KNOX LAW RECEIVES NATIONAL, REGIONAL RANKINGS IN 2024 BEST LAW FIRMS LIST

Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C. has received national and regional rank-ings in 10 practice areas by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® for the 2024 “Best Law Firms” list.

The Erie-based firm received a National Tier 3 ranking for Land Use & Zoning Law and Public Finance Law.

Knox Law’s metropolitan rankings for the Pittsburgh region include a Tier 1 ranking in six practice areas: Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Commercial Litigation, Government Relations Practice, Health Care Law, Real Estate Law, and Trusts & Estates Law.

The firm’s metropolitan rankings also include a Tier 2 ranking in the Pittsburgh region for three practice areas: Land Use & Zoning Law, Public Finance Law, and Litigation – Labor & Employment.

Knox Law also received a Tier 3 metropolitan ranking for Litigation – Bankruptcy.

Firms included in the 2024 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in The Best Lawyers in America®, the oldest and most highly-respected peer review guide to the legal profession world-wide. 14 Knox Law Attorneys are included on this list for 2024:

Mark G. Claypool, Mark A. Denlinger, Neal R. Devlin, Guy C. Fustine, Jennifer E. Gornall, Julia M. Herzing, Thomas C. Hoffman, Frances A. McCormick, Jeffrey D. Scibetta, Timothy M. Sennett, Jeremy T. Toman, Thomas A. Tupitza, Robert D. Zaruta, and Timothy M. Zieziula.

Also, Aurora L. Hardin and William B. Helbling are on the 2024 “Ones to Watch” list.

For more information, visit kmgslaw.com.

PORT FARMS OPENS POVERTY KNOB FARMHOUSE ALES

After more than 120 years of farming, Port Farms has added a brewery and taproom to its 200-acre farm in Waterford, Pennsylvania. Poverty Knob Farmhouse Ales officially opened its 10-barrel brewery on November 22, 2023 at 2055 Stone Quarry Road.

Port Farms first started in 1897 as a traditional crop farm. Roughly 20 years ago, they entered the “agritainment” space where they have become a popular destination. The idea of adding the brewery has been in the works for years.

“We are excited to see our family’s dream come true of open-ing our own brewery,” said Casey Port, chief opera-tions officer.

The brewery is named for a stretch of poor soil on the 200-acre farm, dubbed Poverty Knob by Casey Port’s great-grand-mother, Beatrice Port. The family opened the taproom in an existing 6,000-square-foot building on the farm, which was originally an old potato storage barn dating back to the 1970s and more recently has housed offices and machine storage.

The brewery offers a Farmhouse Ale as its core beer and a wide variety of ales, lagers, porters and more. Poverty Knob will also brew beers to coincide with the many different seasonal festivals that occur at Port Farms.

For more information, visit portfarms.com.