Two factories, each with histories of doing business in Franklin County for more than 35 years, cut ribbons Tuesday on expansions that will add more than 100 jobs in three years.

Both California-based Eldorado Stone and Sweden-based Atlas Copco are consolidating operations in Franklin County. Eldorado Stone makes architectural stone veneer. Atlas Copco makes parts for drilling rigs that tap shale gas fields.

“What’s great about this is: They are both manufacturing,” said L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corp. “Manufacturing creates wealth. When we make things, that generates revenue and income. Services take more than they give.”

Ross said the timing of the ribbon cuttings was coincidental.

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Franklin County has about four times as many service jobs as goods-producing jobs, but the county relies more heavily on manufacturing than Pennsylvania as a whole. Fifteen percent of the jobs in the county are manufacturing jobs versus 10 percent statewide. About 9,000 of the 60,000 jobs in Franklin County are in manufacturing. The health care/social services sector employs more people while the warehousing and retail sectors employ fewer.

Manufacturers have added 400 jobs in the past year as the county’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 percent in August, down from 5.4 percent a year earlier. At the same time tourism, health care and business services each added hundreds of jobs.

Currently Eldorado Stone and Atlas together employ about 300 people.

Eldorado Stone will be moving from a 90,000 square foot building at 9156 Molly Pitcher Highway to another nearly five times bigger in Antrim Commons Business Park just off Interstate 81 Exit 3.

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“I’m a firm believer that if you provide people the environment that they can flourish in, they will,” said Frank Guthrie, Eldorado plant manager. “This building will give us the opportunity with better lighting, better air flow, safe work environment, better ergonomics. It will really allow us to take those next steps in our journey to world class.”

The building has a better training room, break room and bathrooms, Guthrie said. Robotics will improve ergonomics for employees.

The company is consolidating operations from a factory in Greencastle and a warehouse in Hagerstown, Maryland, over the next six to eight weeks. The company employs about 240 in the county. The expansion is to add about 57 more within three years.

Once the operations are stable at the new location, Eldorado will address hiring, Guthrie said. The company will be adding a fourth production line.

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Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Hollidaysburg, said at the ribbon cutting that Eldorado Stone has become the standard for the stone veneer, like Kleenex is for facial tissues.

“We are the best,” Guthrie said. “We have to embrace that, and we have to take steps to insure we remain that. This building is just another building block toward world class. We’ve taken major steps in the last two years to take the organization from an organization that needed to improve in safety, quality and efficiency so we could actually take advantage of an opportunity like this. And we’ve succeeded.”

Atlas Copco also on Tuesday cut a ribbon to an expansion that triples the manufacturing space at the plant at 13278 Lincoln Way West, Fort Loudon. The plant at Salt Lake City make drill bits while the other in Grand Prairie made rock excavation products. About 140 employees there were affected.

Ross said that Atlas currently employs about 165 people at the Fort Loudon plant, up from about 50 before the project.

Besides creating jobs, Atlas will be a boost to the Tuscarora School District, located 20 minutes from the development corridor of Interstate 81. The company annually will pay $42,000 in real estate taxes to the school system and $10,000 to the county, according to Ross.

Incentives played a role in the two projects:

The $4.6 million Atlas project was financed with a $2 million loan from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority and a loan up to $3.5 million through the Franklin County Industrial Development Authority.

Eldorado qualified for a $250,000 Pennsylvania First Program grant, $114,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits and a $400,000 low-interest PIDA loan. The company is leasing the 432,000-square-foot facility on 25.4 acres from the joint venture group of Atapco Properties and Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC. Eldorado is investing $7 million in equipment and interior of the building.

Jim Hook, 717-262-4759