The NWTC touch makes a difference at Lancaster Tanks

Story originally published June, 2025 via The Buffalo News

Andrew Ryan acquired Lancaster Tanks, a long-standing Buffalo company that manufactures above-ground steel fuel tanks and accessories, about two years ago. Since taking the helm, Ryan has led a cultural and operational transformation rooted in four core values: respect, safety, quality and continuous improvement.

A key driver of that transformation? Talented graduates from Northland Workforce Training Center (NWTC). Today, four NWTC alumni are thriving at Lancaster Tanks, and Ryan is quick to credit their impact.

“Part of it is their ability to learn,” Ryan says. ““They come in with technical skills, but none of them are going to come knowing how to build fuel storage tanks. So, they have to be willing and able to learn, and then they must have the right attitude. I encourage all our employees— if they can imagine a different way to do it, or a better way or question why we’re doing it a certain way, we talk about it, and we try to make improvements all the time.”

NWTC is an extension campus for SUNY Alfred State College and SUNY Erie Community College, located on the East Side of Buffalo and offering degrees and training in technical careers such as Welding Technology, Electrical Construction and Maintenance Electrician, CNC Manufacturing and Machining and Mechatronics. Staff also assist students with job readiness, communication skills and professionalism.

For Keith Smoot, who has been at Lancaster Tanks for about 18 months, his degree from NWTC was the next step in a decades-long career in welding. When his kids headed to college several years ago, Keith wanted to beat them as the first in the family to graduate. He did just that—earning his diploma two days before his daughters walked across the stage for their own—and has found the experience educated him beyond just the technical skills.

“The Northland program taught me way more than what I learned over the years since high school,” he says. “Especially being a team player.”

New hire Ivan Bork graduated from NWTC in 2020. It set him on a path with some surprising benefits.

“If you would have asked me what I was going to do five years ago, right before I started this, I would have said, ‘I have no idea. I don’t want to go to college,’ he says. “But it’s opened a lot of doors for me with everything—with work, with expanding my knowledge, with relationships I have, with people. My overall quality of life has gone up.”

James Richards, another new hire, pursued a degree at NWTC following years working in construction. “I wanted a stable career that could not only provide for my family, but help us thrive,” he says.

At Lancaster Tanks, he’s found a great atmosphere and a career where he uses the skills he learned at NWTC “every day, with everything I do.”

As for Eric Earthman, who has been at Lancaster Tanks for several months, he says NWTC still “feels like home.” Career coaches and staff follow up with students even after graduation, checking and offering support. He’s happy in his welding career, which requires constant problem solving and critical thinking in addition to the technical skills.

“Even older people, who’ve been working for like, 30 years, they learn stuff new every day,” he says. “It has shown me tricks that I would have never even known.”

For Ryan, hiring from NWTC is more than a talent pipeline—it’s a partnership in building a better workforce and a stronger company.