Spend any amount of time learning about business development in Centre County, and you’ll hear the word “incubator.” It’s a good word, and apt in its description of creating the environment and support needed for entrepreneurs to emerge strong and successful. But, in working with businesses thriving a mere half-hour outside of State College in Philipsburg, another word came to mind: greenhouse. This small town is the perfect example of the greenhouse effect of Penn State’s world-class research and Innovation Park’s resources and knowledge base. Philipsburg has become a home to businesses that are making the news and, most importantly, loving it there.


Why It’s a Hot Location


The first thing most business owners in the area mention is cost; it’s cheaper to build dream facilities, to rent space, to launch new brands and to expand. But, fast on the heels of affordability comes something else just as important: the area is filled with people who love their work. There’s a deep, revered history of industry, textiles and brain meets brawn. As Josh Helke of Organic Climbing says, “There are few places in our world where it’s this clean and affordable to work, with instant access to the great outdoors.” The Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership, at the direction of Stan LaFuria, has created a welcoming culture and infrastructure for early stage companies.


DiamondBack Truck Covers: Pivot Pays Off


For most companies, brand loyalty is the result of savvy marketing and a huge advertising budget. However, DiamondBack earned their dedicated customer base by delivering an exceptional product. Their Instagram account is filled with photos of happy truck owners showing off their indestructible covers around the globe. Their bottom line has grown 29 percent for five years running and that growth came from the unlikeliest of sources: the 2008 recession.


The company was founded long before 2008. Matt Chverchko and Ethan Wendle were Penn State engineering students when the idea for the company was born from a class project. It eventually grew out of their dorm rooms into a small business based in Philipsburg.


For several years, the business grew steadily, based on their original concept of a truck cover that would seal and lock the bed of a pickup truck, while also providing the ability to haul on top of the truck. By May 2003, DiamondBack was incorporated and they started to redesign and refine their product. They followed a business model used by almost every other manufacturer in the industry: develop a large customer base of warehouse distributors, who would then, in turn, sell and service the retail customer at locations around the United States and in Canada. In 2008, they secured a relationship with General Motors to provide the locking truck cover for the HUMMER pickup truck, along with other relationships to distribute the product nationally for use on commercial fleet vehicles. Things were looking good.


Then the 2008 recession hit. Truck sales across the United States fell by 50 percent and the industry model disintegrated. If necessity is the mother of invention, then crisis is the hothouse for disruptive innovation. Founders Matt and Ethan knew they had to change the way they distributed their product to their customers, so they pivoted away from the standard model and started selling their covers directly to consumers. The change has paid back handsomely.

Core Values, Core Customers


Today, more than 70 percent of their sales are directly to consumers. Their core values—love those around you, make a difference, be reliable and honest, work smarter, be adventurous and creative and never quit ’til the job is done—resonate with the men and women who use the truck beds in their day-to-day lives. Their Instagram account is a love letter from those people. Kids sit on top of the cover to watch fireworks. An ATV perches securely on top of the unbreakable cover for a drive under the stars. A load of hay on top of a DiamondBack on a Toyota Tundra feeds a flock of chickens. “One time a customer who was stuck in mud while off-road in Canada used one of his DiamondBack panels to shove under his tire for traction,” Ethan says. “After he got out, he slid the panel back on the cover and relocked it down, good as new.”


By cutting out the middleman distributors and selling directly to consumers, the company has been able to pay higher-than-average wages to their employees. Best of all, it’s made local manufacturing not only feasible, but profitable. “Our products are large and require a ton of variability for each truck make and model,” Ethan says. “This makes importing very difficult unless the volume is massive. We’ve been able to afford manufacturing locally by completely switching the script and selling direct to our consumers. We believe this model will play a major role in successful manufacturing in the United States.”


Starting and Staying in Centre County


As their growth rockets, some things will always stay the same: They are firmly planted in Centre County and have been supported every step of the way. In 2004, DiamondBack received a monetary investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of around $140,000. The loan was instrumental in their success. Along with the monetary investment, they were given invaluable assistance by the Ben Franklin team including John Vidmar, Roger Dagen, Sherry Davidson and Teresa Dugan. They credit the assistance in planning, marketing, accounting and HR in helping them successfully navigate the rapid growth of the company.


In addition to Ben Franklin, they received support and consulting from the Innovative Manufacturers’ Center, as well as the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership. “We were quite blessed to start our business in Centre County, with so much support around us,” Ethan says.


After operating out of the Moshannon Valley Enterprise Center for more than a decade, they moved to a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the art facility in the Moshannon Valley Regional Business Park. Every detail of the new facility was engineered for maximum effectiveness, from the 30-foot ceilings above production lines to the large windows that let in natural light to the break room and kitchen space, which employees can sign out for personal parties and get-togethers. “The decision to build our own facility was partially motivated by growth and partially motivated by our desire to provide our employees with a completely different work environment experience,” Ethan says.


So, what’s next for DiamondBack? It’s on an incredible growth run right now. It’s been listed on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing U.S. companies for the past six years running and they are recording their strongest growth ever in 2017 and 2018. They now have 70 employees and that number is set to increase to meet demand.


They are on a mission to create one of the best manufacturing companies in Pennsylvania, one that employees love to work for and customers love to buy from. And, if the trending hashtag #diamondbackready is any indication, they are already well on their way to meeting that goal.


Nittany Laser Technologies: Pushing the Limits


Nittany Laser Technologies has a leg up on its competitors. They mean it when they say they are pushing the limits of laser technology—the only other two companies in the world that are close to catching up are located in Germany. “And our tools are more robust than the ones they offer,” Drew Nissly, president and founder says. “[Our tools] work at a higher power, so they are faster and more reliable.”


Custom Innovation


With the founder’s roots in Penn State’s Applied Research Lab, Nittany Laser was founded in 2012 to provide a wide range of laser processing tools and services, from custom-designed laser cladding tools and turn-key systems to in-house laser cladding, welding and machining. For the past six years, they have developed tools for others to use in industries like aerospace, mining, marine equipment, rail transport and defense.


Their expertise shines in places like the oil and gas industry, where they manufacture custom tools for welding and cladding, creating the capability to weld inside hard-to-reach places like gears, valve components, drilling bits and engine cylinders.


In one recent project, they worked with a company that was laying pipe across the country. They were able to engineer a welding tool that could weld pipeline four inches thick. Due to the high-powered nature of their tools, they were able to do it faster than standard welding and provide a better weld at the end.


They also just developed a tool that welds in water to perform underwater repairs to nuclear facilities.


Affordability and Opportunity


Their location on Enterprise Drive in Philipsburg fits their unique needs. “I live in State College,” Drew says, “but it’s a lot more economical to have my shop out here—rent is about one-fifth of the price I would be paying in town. We also have specific electrical requirements. Nittany Laser needs a lot of electricity. This is a good facility that fits our needs here. Since we have customers from all over the world, our location could be anywhere, but it’s great to have the proximity to State College coupled with the affordability of Philipsburg.”


What can you look forward to seeing next from Nittany Laser Technologies? They are currently working on the ability to provide in-house welding services, so that parts can be sent directly to their facility to be welded or clad.


When asked about his favorite part of living and working in Happy Valley, he pointed out that it was the best of both worlds. “It’s a small town that has lots of diversity because of the university, but without the headaches of a big city.”

Organic Climbing: From Basement to the World


In 2004, Josh Helke started Organic Climbing, a business that makes functional, durable climbing gear. When his wife received a job as a professor at Penn State, the business moved with them to Central Pennsylvania.


“We bought a house with a big basement,” Josh says. “I thought, worst case, I could do some of my work from home if I couldn’t find a facility.”


Solar Pioneer


But he found what he was looking for in Philipsburg. He used the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Regional Business Park Multi-Tenant Building as a base of operations for several years before buying land and starting work on a new building. With help from a PIDA—a Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority loan—their new building will feature a roof covered in solar panels, making it the first fully solar-powered sewing factory in the world. (In fact, the only reason it’ll be hooked up to the grid will be to sell power back to the electric supply company.)


Organic Climbing and Philipsburg are a good match. “We love it here,” Josh says, big words from someone whose outdoor affinities stretch to Wyoming and Colorado. “It would cost twice as much to have a similar lifestyle with instant access to the outdoors anywhere else.”


He also points to the people who live in Philipsburg for making it a great place to base a business. “It’s a great location in terms of a skilled work force. There is a big textile history here. These people have it in their blood.” His company came in just as some other industries were winding down in the area, freeing up a workforce with vast experience. Because of the low cost of operations, his company can offer a good living wage and also sell high-quality products at a good, mid-range price. “It would be harder to be a good employer somewhere else,” he says.


Growing by Reputation


Organic Climbing’s workforce has grown 20 percent each year—reaching a total of 18 employees—and Josh anticipates that with their new, expanded space, they will be able to employ 25.


Currently, Organic Climbing is the highest-rated climbing company in their range, editor’s choice of Climb Magazine in the United Kingdom and the climbing gear of choice in Japan. That’s right, Japan. “We sell a lot by word of mouth,” Josh says. “When we sell a product, we’ll put a pin in a map, and then wait. Pretty soon there will be pins radiating out from that first pin when people see and feel the gear for themselves and can’t help but want some for themselves.” In 2004, that happened in Japan. The first order came and sales quickly spiked. Today, climbers in Japan are their largest international buyers, accounting for 62 percent of international sales.


So what’s next for Organic Climbing? Two sister projects are sprouting up due to Centre County’s greenhouse effect. Nittany Mountain Works takes the quality, durability and usefulness of Organic Climbing’s sewn goods and makes stuff for the rest of us outdoorspeople, with bags for biking, hunting, kayaking and just living. It’s “the quality you remember from when you were a kid, for all the stuff you want to do,” Josh says. “It’s handmade in the United States without hipster prices or political association.”


Another project in the works is an indoor climbing wall project that will give Happy Valley climbers their bouldering fix without leaving home. “When the recession hit in 2008, we weren’t sure what the future would hold, or where my wife would find a faculty position. Moving to Centre County was the best accident ever,” Josh says. “It’s great to be a part of this progressive economy that’s fast becoming a leader in the world.”