Balfurd Cleaners Inc. has scheduled a job fair for this Saturday to seek prospective employees at its new Antis Township plant.
Balfurd’s president, Bob Fogelsanger, confirmed the company will have 45 to 50 employees including delivery drivers at the Antis Township location. He explained the company will employ about 85 total people with the new facility and its remaining retail operations in State College.
Last month, the company made known its plans to move its current production operations from State College to Antis Township.
“The job fair will be held this Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the new facility across from New Pig in the Ardie J. Dillen Industrial Park,” Fogelsanger told The Daily Herald.
“We will have people fill out applications, conduct initial interviews and then schedule second interviews in State College for some applicants,” said Fogelsanger.
“We’ll make hiring decisions and then start training at our State College facility. We want to be able to hit the ground running when we start operations in Antis Township,” explained Fogelsanger.
However, he was unable to specify how many new employees would be hired since it was still unclear how many current Balfurd employees would be willing to transfer to the new location from State College.
“We are going to definitely hire a human resources person,” said Fogelsanger. “We will also be looking at production people, outside sales and customer service people.”
Balfurd’s new location will be housed in the vacant Bomont Mills building which will provide the company with 30,000 feet. The company’s plan will also include an addition to the building which will encompass more than 13,000 square feet.
Renovations to the old warehouse will be completed during the first phrase of the project and the building of the expansion is slated to start in July.
Those plans are contingent on approval from Antis Township officials and the next step in the process could happen as soon as tonight.
County planners have already given a thumbs up to the project and tonight the Antis Township Planning Commission is expected to review the land development plan.
“I’ll be attending the meeting and we are hopeful of approval,” said Fogelsanger.
After Antis Township planners have their say, supervisors from the township will then need to give their approval for the project to move forward. Fogelsanger said the move of operations is now scheduled for November when he expects a two-week transition period when the transfer will take place. Once the move is completed, the production facility in State College will be closed.
