MSA Marks 100 Years
CRANBERRY TWP — On June 14, 1914, two men sharing the vision of making the mining industry safer opened a small storefront in downtown Pittsburgh.
Today, that company is MSA Safety Inc., a global safety equipment manufacturer in Cranberry that has 5,300 employees in 42 locations around the world, doing $1.2 billion in sales annually.
In the beginning, founders John Ryan Sr. and George Deike Sr. kept their fledgeling company afloat by traveling to mines and disaster sites, educating companies about safety and selling safety products.
In the process, they started a movement that has saved lives around the world across all industries.
According to “That Men & Women May Work in Safety: The First 100 Years of the Mine Safety Appliances Company,” a nearly 300-page book MSA is giving to employees for its 100th anniversary, from 1880 to the early 1900s, an average of 1,000 miners died each year in the U.S.That included a record 3,200 in 1907.During the 1910s, Ryan, who was in his mid- to late 20s, was a rescue engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, which had been formed in 1910 as a result of the number of mine accidents.In 1912, he responded to an explosion that killed 80 people at the Jed Coal and Coke Mine in West Virginia.He entered the mine to look for survivors, but he emerged carrying the only one — a 12-year-old who had been working as a “trapper boy.”The boy died moments later, and it was a defining moment in Ryan's life. While growing up in Central Pennsylvania, he himself had worked as a trapper boy, a job that included assisting with mine ventilation.Ryan vowed to do whatever he could to keep such disasters from happening.Combined with his work as a rescue engineer, he was convinced what killed the 80 workers was not the explosion, but having to inhale the toxic gases from it.Miners during that era wore open-flame lamps on their hats. That created a deadly combination because during the mining process, highly flammable methane gas seeps from coal seems. Without any sophisticated monitors to detect the gas, explosions occurred with little warning.A year later, while responding to an explosion at the Cincinnati Mine in Cherry Valley, Washington County, Ryan would meet Deike, who also was an engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Mines.Deike, 36, was among a small group of engineers who had been working at the site to control a fire that was fueled by coal dust. Nearly 100 miners had already died.Deike's group had been experimenting with a crude breathing apparatus manufactured in Europe, but one of the engineers died after the device failed.Ryan arrived to help control the fire, and he and Deike struck up a bond based on their shared vision to improve mine safety. They continued to keep in touch.In 1914, they used their savings to open the Mine Safety Appliances Co. in Pittsburgh.Among the products they sold were a resuscitation device, a breathing apparatus and first aid kits. The kits, while being a simple concept, helped save lives because miners then sometimes bled to death from injuries because first aid stations were too far from where they worked.Near the end of 1914, they sought the help of legendary inventor Thomas Edison to help them create the first electric cap lamp.The device gained approval from the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1915 and quickly became successful as it gained widespread adoption. More importantly, it is credited with reducing mine explosions and deaths by more than 75 percent over 25 years.Another boost to the business came when the U.S. got involved in World War I. The military needed first aid supplies, but it also needed to equip miners to tunnel underground to lay explosives behind enemy lines, which required MSA's breathing device.MSA's business drastically evolved and expanded during the next 90 years.The company has developed new technologies such as thermal imaging cameras, ballistic helmets, and gas and flame detection systems.Today, the company's core product lines are self-contained breathing apparatuses, fixed gas and flame detection systems, hand-held gas detection instruments, industrial and fire service head protection products, and fall protection devices. Its largest markets are the oil, gas and petrochemical; fire service; construction; and mining industries,
MSA also has had a large impact on Butler County.In 1983, the company bought 326 acres along Interstate 79 on the southern border of Cranberry for $1.1 million.While the township was far from the thriving business hub it is today, MSA in 1985 relocated its main manufacturing facility to a new 200,000-square-foot building. A year later, the company moved its John T. Ryan Memorial Laboratory there.During the late 1990s, MSA wanted to develop a high-end office park and it partnered with the township and the Trammell Crow Co.The result was Cranberry Woods Office Park. It is home to a number of businesses that employ a total of about 7,000 people. That includes Westinghouse Electric's global headquarters and the Pittsburgh Marriott North.The park is still growing. A third hotel is under construction, and a condominium complex is planned.In 2010, MSA expanded its manufacturing facility and relocated its corporate offices there. It now employs about 900 people there.Bill Lambert, president and CEO of MSA since 2008, gave much of the credit to Dennis Zeitler, who retired last year as the company's chief financial officer.“It's a real tribute to him and his vision in the way of a first-class office park,” he said. “It's a great environment.”
In March, MSA completed a legal realignment to establish a new holding company and new parent company to be better positioned for growth.That move changed the company's name from the Mine Safety Appliances Co. to MSA Safety Inc.Bill Lambert, president and CEO of MSA, explained that over the years, MSA had acquired and divested companies and product lines.As the company aged, the former corporate structure made operations less efficient. For example, moving money between different business units became difficult.He added moving the headquarters to Cranberry saved about $3 million per year in operating costs alone.He said the global economy will play a key role in sustained success because safety equipment sales follow the creation of manufacturing jobs.“That's not to say that in any way we're giving up on the U.S. and North American economies,” he said.“The energy market here in North America has grown substantially over the past five years.”Lambert said MSA also is optimistic about the fire service market because many departments are starting to replace equipment after extending the life cycle through the economic recession.The company is rolling out new products in that area. Last year, MSA introduced a new firefighter helmet used in Europe and most of the rest of the world.This year, it debuted a new thermal imaging camera, and an all-new supplied-air respirator system for firefighters that should be in full production by the end of the year.Lambert said the challenges MSA faces are shared by many U.S.-based manufacturers: The corporate tax rate is the highest in the world, and hiring enough skilled production workers remains difficult.“We have a factory here of skilled workers who have good pay and very good benefits,” he said.He said municipalities need to join with companies, schools and other organizations to develop training programs that will provide opportunities for residents.However, Lambert said MSA will continue to be successful because it will hold true to the mission and belief structure that began with the integrity that Ryan and Deike laid out in 1914.
