A lab in Birch River, Wv (managed out of Belington) was opened in 2012 (closed in 2013) along with a lab in Grafton, Wv where Rick Malcolm had become manager. This lab was in support of Leer Coal under the name of ACI Tygart.
A satellite ash chemistry lab was installed at Mount Vernon, IND.
The big event in 2012 was the hiring of Don Merritt who quickly rose through several jobs to become head President of Std Labs.
Don Merritt left WV in 1983 to complete his B.S. in Industrial Engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. After graduation he worked for Texas Instruments in Johnson City, TN and during this time received an M.S. in Engineering Management also from the University of Tennessee. He then went to EG & G Instruments in Oak Ridge TN, before his father convinced him to return to the small family businesses in WV in 1993. One of the family business is a tree and plant nursery and through this business met the Stallard’s for the first time. He and Rick Flesher had been friends for some time and Rick eventually convinced Don to come to work at Standard Labs in January of 2012: First as Director of Facilities and Equipment, then Mid-East Division Manager, then Eastern Division Manager and later (2019) President.