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SOMERSET, Pa. – Global/SFC Valve has earned a reputation as an industry leader in the manufacturing, assembly, and testing of equipment for U.S. Navy and NATO forces.

The company has also quietly supported community development in Somerset County.

The company’s products include its underway replenishment (UNREP) systems that allow refueling of U.S. and NATO ships at sea. UNREP systems include adapters, cargo bags, bridles, caps, clamps, hose couplings, fittings, hose assemblies, plugs and flow-through saddles.

In addition, Global/SFC Valve manufactures inventory of U.S. Navy-standard valves and components.

The company headquartered at 160 Cannery Road, Somerset, was led for decades by Robert H. “Bob” Kirst. In 1983, Kirst helped his parents resurrect the business, which they had started in the 1960s.

Kirst died at 61 in 2019, but before he died he arranged for his company to continue operating as a trust to benefit its employees and Somerset Inc., a nonprofit focused on improving Somerset, said Linda Heining, the longtime company controller and its current trustee and president.

“He wanted the community to benefit from us being here,” Heining said. “It’s very unique. Usually you have (employee stock ownership plans), where people have shares of a company, but this is set up so that all of the shares go into the trust and what profits we have go back to the employees in that way. ... I like the idea of having everybody invested in it because you want the company to succeed, and when it does, you get more money out of the profits.”

Somerset Inc. is using its annual donations from Global/SFC Valve’s profits to tear down blighted structures, Executive Director Regina Coughenour said.

“We try to be thoughtful about what Bob Kirst cared about,” she said. “He cared about development and blight remediation, so right now on West Main Street, we are tearing down a building that is very blighted, and it’s really exciting because it had been an issue for years for the community. We were able to get the building donated by the owner and use those funds from Global/SFC to demolish the property and do something new with it, which is really exciting from a development standpoint.”

Global/SFC Valve joined UPMC Health Plan and Somerset Trust Co., in partnership with Somerset Inc., to win a six-year tax-credit-funded grant to invest in Somerset’s historic buildings and community parks through the state Neighborhood Partnership Program.

“With Global/SFC’s funding, we’ve been able to do things that were really just a dream before their support,” Coughenour said.

Coughenour said she met Kirst long before his death to talk about how Somerset could be improved.

“One thing about him was the way he wanted to do good things and didn’t care about the credit at all,” she said. “He grew up in Turkeyfoot, one of the most underprivileged areas of our county. ...He was a real example of someone who put everything into whatever it was he was passionate about.

“Another thing he really cared about was empowering people to do better and empowering the community to grow, and he did it all behind the scenes.”

The company’s business has been consistent, but is challenged by the present economy, Heining said.

“Right now, with the economy the way it is, we have not grown, but we have been told the government is going to be ramping up production of submarine and aircraft carriers – but that isn’t going to be happening until 2025,” she said.

“So we are looking for grant money to expand with new equipment because they want us to start gearing up for that, so it’s just a matter of getting grant money and machinery. They (government partners) want to see us succeed because we are a critical supplier.”

Several other local companies work with SFC as subcontractors.

“We subcontract to a lot of people in this area, six or seven different companies, because we can’t do it all here the work we have,” she said. “With the trickle-down effect, when we are not busy, then there are six other subcontractors that are not busy, so we need the work from the Navy to keep us going plus all of our smaller tiers.”

Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @RussellOReilly.

Although it’s small, Bedford County’s economic production grew more than any other Pennsylvania county’s from 2020 to 2021, an annual report from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis shows.

Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @RussellOReilly.

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