Paul Battista looks for openings.

The founder and business manager of SunnySide Supply in Slovan in Washington County centered his business around openings. He saw a big one when shale-gas drilling took off nearly eight years ago and steered his company to that market.

SunnySide supplies oil and gas companies with industrial equipment, from hoses and safety equipment to coveralls and drinking water. The company, started in 1980, initially served solar panel manufacturers and the steel industry. It has 16 employees and four owners.

The Trib sat down with Battista to discuss his approach to business and how he adapted the business to changing markets.

Trib: When did you decide that you needed to shift into oil and gas from your original business plan?

Battista: The steel industry left town in the early ’80s, and from there we repurposed. We got to the point where we said, ‘Do we take early retirement or change directions?’ Back in ’04, I started watching and seeing activity in the oil and gas industry, test wells. I started talking to people in the rigs, driving the trucks; got to meet some people in the industry. In ’08, we decided to make the switch. We wanted to focus more on oil and gas at that point, and we started hiring more people, training more people. … I talked to a lot of people from other states that I was not in direct competition with, but would try to find other companies similar to ours.

Trib: How did you make the shift and decide where on the spectrum of shale gas production to specialize?

Battista: When we started looking at this industry, it got so big so fast, it’s hard to get your hands around it. We took big sheets of white paper, taped them to a wall and drew a horizontal line. Did we fit upstream, or did we fit downstream? That’s how we sorted it out … looking at safety, environmental products and products to keep the equipment running. I looked, ‘Where do we fit? And where is there a weakness in the industry?’ We found what their needs were going to be. We focused on gathering and gas processing, and what we can do to support that process.

Trib: With pipeline build-out, what’s the draw in supplying that side of the industry?

Battista: Midstream and gathering is starting to come into play now. It’s going to last and stay here long term.

It was a business strategy — do I want a lot of business up front, or do I want to take a little softer approach and work with the midstream companies for not as much (business) volume? That’s the direction we went. We take a lot less risk that way. … Midstream is a slower pace; maybe they have a little more time on their hands, but it’s a different pace.

Trib: What patent opportunities have you found in the industry?

Battista: There’s a lot of business happening in Pa. that’s related to this industry, and it gives a lot of people opportunities to seek patents. The (industry) is constantly looking for a better way to do something. I developed a set of steps that go into the trailer tanks. I’m on a third-generation prototype for the ‘spotter buddy,’ another product idea that came when I was sitting at a safety meeting. They put statistics up in our industry about how most people get hurt in a vehicle, or basically run over by a vehicle or machine on the site. The industry puts a spotter down on the ground. The spotter says how safe it is. They’re using hand signals day and night. We need a way to communicate from that spotter to the cab of that truck. The ‘spotter buddy’ looks like a phaser from Star Trek. The spotter pulls a trigger and says it’s safe to back up.

Trib: How are you coping with the industry slowdown?

Battista: In the last four months, our business is down about 20 percent, so we’re feeling the pinch. Our customers have asked us for concessions. We’re giving up bottom-line margins in hopes that we ride through this thing and these companies remember us.

Katelyn Ferral is a Trib Total Media staff writer. She can be reached at 412-380-5627 or [email protected].