Fisher Tank Celebrates 2008
Fisher Tank Co., of Chester, Pa., has marked 2008 with its 60th anniversary and a banner year in business.
A full-service welded steel tank manufacturer, the company has been celebrating its longevity in Chester as well as in Lexington, S.C., and Cropwell, Ala., towns where it has a manufacturing facility and a sales office, respectively. The company designs, engineers, constructs, repairs, and maintains carbon and welded stainless steel field-erected tanks for the petroleum, power, ethanol, water and wastewater, chemical, and other industries.
Despite the weak economy, the company has experienced one of its best years. The petroleum industry has remained strong through much of the year, driving steady work for Fisher Tank. And the company's work in the power industry has been growing, too.
The country's ethanol fuel production capacity has grown dramatically, reaching 7.5 billion gallons in 2007, a 40 percent increase over 2006. And U.S. ethanol production is predicted to increase to 13.3 billion gallons in 2008. One result has been a fast-growing need for ethanol storage tanks over the past few years, and Fisher Tank has seen this segment of its business grow.
Fisher Tank has grown from an East Coast supplier of storage tanks to a company doing business throughout the continental United States and internationally, including work in Qatar on the Persian Gulf and in the Bahamas. The number of its field crews has increased more than 40 percent since 2005.
"We have taken great pride in our growth over the past few years," said Mike Szelak, the company's president and chief executive officer. According to Szelak, Fisher Tank can attribute much of its success to its ownership by employees for the past 11 years. "In 1997, we began an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)," said Szelak. "Our employees have a vested interest in the company's success, and their pride of ownership is reflected in higher quality work, better service, and a job done right the first time. As of October 1, we are 100 percent ESOP owned."