The company opened a lab in Czar, Kentucky, later referred to as the Paintsville,Kentucky lab, supervised by Danny White. The lab was closed in about four years as the company lost its contract. A new corporate building was built that same year in the Kanawha City area of Charleston to house the headquarters staff.
In 1982, Sampling Associates International was formed as a partnership of four coal testing labs in the Norfolk, Virginia area. See the “Partnership” Section for more details on this very important relationship in Std Labs history. Our Norfolk lab was closed as a part of the partnership agreement and Merrill Bergstedt was relocated to Charleston,
1981 became an important point in Std Labs’ history as the International Coal Testing Conference was inaugurated. The conference was organized and managed by Std Labs with the intent of bringing a sense of unity among the many diverse organizations in the field of coal quality control. Troy Stallard in the official opening banquet made
In 1980 a contract lab was formed to support Dr, Bill Berry, who was an expert in coal petrography. This lab was in Pittsburgh, Pa and functioned for several years to support his work until his retirement. Dr. Berry was a key figure in a very significant issue with the spontaneous combustion of coals in
The company’s first acquisition was made in 1979 when Environmental Technology, Inc. became a part of the Corbin operations. James Watkins was the owner of this small water and coal testing company who desired to join forces with Std Labs and stay on as the manager of the integrated organization. “Jimmy” was a very capable
A lab was opened in 1978 in Van Buren, Arkansas with Bill Mayer who had been formerly an employee of Peabody Coal in its central lab. This lab still exists in the Std Labs family of labs and has had several managers including Melvin Holt, Brenda Briley and Dickie Horton. Later that same year the
Mick Samples was added to the Charleston lab staff with the title of Special Projects Manager. Mick was a graduate of Carnege Mellon with a degree in chemistry. He assumed a number of positions throughout the years including Vice President and Technical Director and actually the heading of the profit centers Ashland Division, Seer Services
A second need was identified in that a competent lab manager was required for the expanding Charleston lab. Dick Kelly, who was performing that role at that time, wanted to emphasize his technical expertise and was spending less time in personnel and business management. A nationwide search was undertaken and Israel Broome was hired on
In January of 1975, Gladys went on a “recruiting” trip to the home of her son, Troy, who lived at that time in Los Angeles , California. He was working there for Xerox Corporation as the Employee Relations and Compensation Manager at their El Seconda facility. Her recruiting style was blunt. She informed him that
