By Leah Fassnacht, Director of Marketing and Communications
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Murphy, Vice President of Eagle Metals, made the decision invest in his business. He decided to join the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) at the Catalyst level. (A complete list of Catalyst benefits can be found here.)
“The pandemic came, and we didn’t want to be on the sidelines anymore, we wanted to get involved and thought joining the GRCA would be a great first step,” Murphy said.
The Leesport-based company, which employs about 65 people, is a manufacturer of light gauge, tight tolerance coils, strips and sheets. It stocks about 50 unique alloys and has the ability to process them down to a customer’s exact specifications. For example, a sheet of paper is only about .004 inches thick, but Eagle Metals can create a product that is .0005 inches thick. The company’s metals are used in many important, real-world products such as ventilators, hypodermic needles, pacemakers, cars, airplanes and even wind chimes.
In the past five years, the company has completed three expansion projects at its Leesport facility. According to Murphy, GRCA played a crucial role in helping that process along as it served not only as a guide and advocate, but also in making the proper connections.
“GRCA is a great resource for Reading area businesses and has helped us for the past several years. We have always been focused on our company, employees, and how to get to the next level. As our company has grown, we felt it was important to become a partner in the community,” Murphy said.
While Murphy acknowledged the entire business community is struggling, he feels positive about the future of Eagle Metals and his decision to become a member of GRCA.
“The Greater Reading area is facing many challenges, now so maybe more than ever, and most of the companies and people here are facing the same issues. We are looking forward to learning about best practices from the business community here and seeing how we might be able to help others in order to lift up the whole area. Being a member of the GRCA will help us help the community and that is a win for us all,” Murphy said.
Interested in becoming a GRCA member? Contact Membership Specialist Melissa Hassler at mhassler@greaterreading.org today.