GrafTech Expanding Operations in Lakewood, Adding Jobs

GrafTech isn't likely to go back to employing more 3,000 people in the Madison Avenue factory once known as the National Carbon Company.

But thanks to GrafTech’s high-tech graphite films — found in just about every electronic gizmo on the market — the Lakewood facility is growing.

The company that built Birdtown is expanding operations in the city and adding employees.

Company officials said as many as 30 highly skilled positions will join the Lakewood location’s workforce of 120 by the end of the year.

Much of the company’s success hinges on its thin graphite film that keeps consumer electronics from overheating. The technology is used in a range of devices — think smart-phones, flat-panel TVs and laptop computers.

“Our latest products are even more innovative,” said Brian Bartos, the site manager of GrafTech’s Lakewood facility. “We want to expand our capabilities in Lakewood. Our intent is to fill this facility up with innovative products and good-paying jobs.”

To house the new operations, the facility is expanding into two vacant, but soon-to-be renovated structures on the property. The plans are already drawn.

“We could go overseas, but we’d like to expand locally,” Bartos said. “We’re proud of what we’re doing here.”

“Why redo it all when we’ve got the space and a qualified workforce here?”

When the company set up shop in the southeast portion of the city 125 years ago, it was the only manufacturing gig in town. In fact, until the streetcar came along, there wasn’t too much else happening in Lakewood.

The company built its reputation as the supplier of arc carbons to the Cleveland — making the city the first in the world with electric street lamps. Of course, Edison’s incandescent light bulb changed all that.

The company adapted. Then, adapted again.

During World War I, the factory employed more than 3,000 people. But over the years, automation reduced the need for a huge workforce.

Until a few years ago, the Lakewood facility focused its efforts on graphite heat shields for automobiles.

“It was our bread and butter,” said Joe Capp, the technical manager of the facility. “We’ve reinvented ourselves.”

Last year, GrafTech was awarded a $965,000 grant from Ohio’s Third Frontier program to commercialize new products. The company — headquartered in Parma, employing 2,200 people on four continents — continues to develop innovative use for its graphite product line.

Today, the work for automobiles accounts for only about a quarter of the business at the Lakewood location, Capp said.

But business is good, he added. By 2014, the facility could add another 30 jobs to the plant’s workforce.

“I want to grow in this community,” Capp said. “I didn’t grow up in Lakewood, and I don’t live here, but I want to bring jobs to Ohio.”

Along with jobs, the facility is adding four new graphite rolling lines, equipped with scrubbers to control emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. The company is also firing up the facility’s west treatment system and installing 12 new graphite furnaces.

The public is invited to comment on an Ohio EPA draft air permit for the company’s expansion.

The meeting — hosted by the Ohio EPA and the Cleveland Division of Air Quality — is set to take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Madison Avenue branch of the .

Bartos said the upgraded facility would still fall under the guidelines of the EPA.

“We’re not asking for any special exceptions,” he said. “We spend a lot of money to make sure we follow the law."