A Polish immigrant, who worked hard to build a successful heat treating business, has achieved the dream he came to America to pursue.
When William Pociask emigrated to the U.S. from Poland, he learned English, attended Catholic schools and later Youngstown State University, then worked for a local tool and die company, delivering materials for heat treating to another tool and die firm in the area.
From that experience, he saw the need for an independent heat treating company where people could take their work rather than take it to a competitor. That spurred him to found P&L Heat Treating and Grinding Inc. 41 years ago. He owned the company until last year when he sold it to Thermal Process Holdings Inc. and is now its general manager.
The company started with heat treating aluminum extrusion dies, then moved into grinding, forging and stamping dies and parts for the railroad and mining industries. It now offers an array of heat treating, hardening, tempering and nitriding services.
“We do quite a bit for automotive,” Pociask says. Its customers include Ohio Star Forge, which produces parts for Japanese automakers, and suppliers to Ford and Dodge. The company produces dies for heavy-equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar and International Harvester.
Pociask, who visited other Thermal plants before agreeing to the sale, says joining with the company gives P&L the ability to increase its expertise and to shop at better prices for the products it uses.
“A year later, I’m very proud that I did this. Their goals and their thoughts are just like mine,” he says. “They treat our employees very well and they value our customers, processes and so forth. [Thermal is] a very good organization that will take this business to the next level.”
Photo Credit: The Business Journal
