H&Z Materials Inc., at Yellow Creek a new business in Yellow Creek Township anticipates being operational by August at the former location of the Wellsville Foundry on Fife-Coal Road.

YELLOW CREEK TOWNSHIP –According to William Zhou, president, H&Z Materials Inc., the new division of his company to be located at 18150 Fife-Coal Road in Wellsville is expected to progressively bring 90 new jobs to Yellow Creek Township between August 2026 and November 2028.

He is anticipating having the business operational with 15 employees this August and then bring that total up to 24 employees by April 2027 and have it operating with 90 employees by November 2028.

Zhou expressed this will bring long-term employment to the area and the business will be in continuous operation 24-hours a day, seven days a week. He is currently looking for employees to hire to start in August. Having additional employees start in April 2027 will be contingent upon completion of power upgrades and obtaining any additional permits that may be needed. Zhou spoke with Protech and was told the upgrades should be reasonably easy to complete.

Hiring the remaining employees he wants in November 2028 is contingent upon additional land acquisition and obtaining any needed permits.

Zhou, recently purchased the Fife-Coal Road property, which was the former location of the Wellsville Foundry for his business. Currently, there is work on improvements and upgrades to the property paving drive into the business, installing equipment and an overhead crane and constructing a new 210 foot x 109 foot building.

He noted the old building is in poor equipment and needs a lot of work. Engineering work has already begun on the property.

The business will manufacture Hafnium crystal bars used in aerospace engines; Zirconium sponge for energy assembly structural material; and, Hafnium wire for plasma-cutting tips.

Zhou held a public meeting early this month at the Highland Volunteer Fire Department to inform residents of the business and address any concerns. According to him, the biggest concern expressed was noise and additional traffic.

He indicated some of the upgrades include heavy-insulated rooms to contain the noise –there wouldn’t be any noise heard by residents. As far as traffic, Zhou said that the company’s primary carrier would be Fed Ex Freight. — sending two-to-three outbound shipments a month. He also noted that the company would produce about 2,000 pounds of product a month, which is low volume. He expects inbound shipments with equipment and spare parts to be delivered approximately every three months and small parcel deliveries on a weekly basis. So the traffic impact would be minimal.

He noted that he isn’t saying there won’t be any noise, but it will be minimal and won’t be heard outside of their property.

There would be no impact to any of the waterways because the company will be operating with zero discharge.

“Basically, we will pretreat the water and recycle the clean portion, and the rest of it will be stored in a tank for a third party to pick up,” Zhou said. “Every month this is 20-30 tons of wastewater, but they only need to come pick up once or twice.”

He also noted that gases are contained and not emitted into the environment.

During that meeting he told residents, the business’s mission includes valuing the peaceful friendly community of Yellow Creek; being committed to being a responsible and respectful neighbor; making employee safety the highest priority;;being in full compliance with OHSA and the EPA by following all applicable regulations; and, building long-term trust with the Yellow Creek community.

Zhou said the business did some serious assessments of multiple properties before deciding on the Yellow Creek location because they liked the location, and it meets a lot of the business’s needs which included a building with a high roof to fit equipment. He noted that they looked at over 50 locations in eight states, some of which were Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma.

With him wanting to start production as soon as possible, he needed a site with the tall building already in place instead of having to construct a new facility. Part of the decision to put the business in Yellow Creek of close proximity to the New Jersey location. Also, the power supply at that location is good and relatively low cost compared to other potential sites they looked at.

The business was also looking for a place that had what Zhou referred to as a reasonable tax burden where the company would not have to pay high taxes and a community whioch benefits tax revenue from the business.

The business has four other locations, two in China, which have been in operation for three years, one in Austria, and one in New Jersey.

Zhou said he has started interviews and his major concern about getting operational soon is he is having difficulty finding job candidates.

He said potential employees do not need equipment or the exact skillset the company needs because what they manufacture is such a niche area. He wold like to hire those with some factory experience — some hands-on experience in the manufacturing industry –so they don’t have to learn from scratch.

Anyone interested in inquiring about employment can call or text 925-300-8259.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com