Brookville Equipment Corporation was one of 50 Pennsylvania companies honored at the inaugural Governor’s ImPAct Awards in Hershey on May 23, earning the Jobs First award for the North Central Partnerships for Regional Economic Performance (PREP) region, in recognition of the company’s consistent sustainable employment growth.
Nominations were received from 250 companies in 10 PREP regions across five award categories, including Community Impact, Entrepreneur Impact, Export Impact, Jobs First and Small Business Impact. The ceremony recognized 50 winners – one from each PREP region for each award category – acknowledging their varying positive contributions to the Pennsylvania economy. Governor Tom Corbett and Team Pennsylvania Foundation President and CEO Matt Zieger attended and delivered a speech at the event, attended by over 750 representatives of Pennsylvania businesses.
The awards were presented without the use of state funds through a partnership between the Governor’s office and the Team Pennsylvania Foundation – a private sector organization founded in 1997 to “bridge the gap between government and the private sector to partner for the betterment of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
“We accept this award with gratitude and want to congratulate the other winners and nominees for continuing to maintain jobs growth, even in the most challenging of times,” said Sheila Hockman, human resources research and development specialist, who accepted the award on BROOKVILLE’s behalf. “After 95 years of business in rural Western Pennsylvania, we look forward to a prosperous future, while continuing to have a positive impact on Pennsylvania’s economy through our supplier network, our employees and our supported industries.”
Currently, BROOKVILLE employs just over 200 technical, trade and administrative specialists from nine counties in Western Pennsylvania – a steady climb from 48 employees when the company migrated to its current 100,000 sq. ft. Evans Street main production facility in 1998 from its Pickering Street location following a devastating flood two years prior.
In addition to raising employment numbers throughout the 2000s, BROOKVILLE has also expanded its facility – adding adjacent office space in 2005, reopening its Pickering Street facility to house the company’s services division in 2011, and building a 12,000 sq. ft. high bay facility designed for the production of large locomotives in 2012.
Diversification has also led to further sustainability. In 2011, BROOKVILLE received its first order for its new full-size BL36PH commuter locomotive from the Miami region’s Tri-Rail system. The first units in the order of 12 will ship this summer. In 2012, the company applied a decade of experience remanufacturing and restoring streetcars to introduce the modern articulated and off-wire capable Liberty Streetcar – receiving its first order from Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) in March 2013. Currently the company supports the mining, tunneling, freight rail, and public transportation industries.
BROOKVILLE’s jobs growth impact within Pennsylvania expands well beyond its own employee nucleus, as 55 percent of the suppliers BROOKVILLE relies on for components, parts and raw materials operate within the state.
The Jobs First award win comes just over a month after BROOKVILLE returned from a trip on the Governor’s Jobs First Mission to Brazil and Chile, where the company sought new opportunities to expand or introduce its products to those international markets. BROOKVILLE was also one of two companies in the state to receive a $5000 scholarship from the Team Pennsylvania Foundation that was applied to the Jobs First mission’s expenses. Over its 95 year history, BROOKVILLE has exported over 3,800 locomotives to 80 countries across the globe, but continues to look for new export opportunities that will lead to further jobs creation at the company, while further expanding its global footprint.
BROOKVILLE received support from the North Central Regional Planning Committee and the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center throughout the submission process for the Jobs First award.