It was in the early 1900s, during the boom of the anthracite coal mining industry, when Otto Haentjens launched a company in Hazleton to manufacture slurry pumps that would be used in deep coal mines.

Several years later, that company, Barrett & Haentjens, expanded its market to include the bituminous coal fields in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. The company’s pumps gained a reputation for being the premier pumps in those markets.

Haentjens’ two sons, Walter and Peter, Sr., eventually took over the business and operated it until the mid-1990s,

when it was purchased by Warman, an Australian pump manufacturer. Then, after the turn of the century, Weir purchased the company from Warman and has been operating it since.

“We’ve progressed from making vertical and horizontal pumps for the mining industry into the oil sands market and now the gas fracking markets,” said John T. Moscon, president of Weir Minerals, Hazleton.

“The oil sands market has become an important industry for our company since these companies are making seven to eight billion dollars a year and every dollar of product is going through our pumps,” he said. “They demand pumps that are reliable with long-service life and we have been delivering with great success.”

Even though the company has been very successful, Weir has tasked the Hazleton operation with doubling its business by 2015. “We can’t get that

great of an increase just by serving the markets we are already in since we have a large market share now,” Moscon said. “So, we are currently developing new products for new markets and it’s our association with Weir that will make marketing these products possible.”

Weir Minerals Hazleton supplying pumps for energy industry worldwide

Weir Minerals pumps like this one are used by the mining and oil sands industries to pump raw materials from the mining sites to processing plants.

Each month, we recognize one of the region’s top manufacturers with the aid of nepirc, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. Since 1988, nepirc has been working with manufacturers to improve their productivity, profitability, competitiveness and long-term viability through consultative services.

This feature is sponsored by...View a video about Weir Minerals at www.nepirc.com/weir

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Weir has a presence on every continent throughout the world. International business is about 44 percent of what Weir Hazleton does annually. The company expects the international market to account for more than 60 percent in the next five years.

“We’re making a deep-sea pump for deep-water offshore oil drilling for a company called Fuglesangs in Norway. We’re also developing, as we speak, a frack pump for the fracking market, which all of us in northeastern Pennsylvania are familiar with. This will be used all over the country and, in fact, all over the world,” he said.

When studying the hurdles that will have to be overcome to ultimately triple the company’s business, Moscon said, “The challenge isn’t finding the markets or the products. It’s how do we produce three times what we are currently producing in essentially the same

footprint. The key to that for us and for any company is a good workforce. Fortunately, we have an outstanding workforce here.”

However, Moscon said the challenge is finding a workforce with the qualifications and experience the company needs. “This is where NEPIRC (Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center) will come in. They will assist our company through this transition and growth.”

Northeast PeNNsylvaNia BusiNess JourNal · JuNe 2012

John T. Moscon is president of Weir Minerals, Hazleton.