Onex History

Onex began in 1966 as a refractory distributor to the local foundries in the Erie, PA area. Then, in the 1980’s, Onex branched out to serve the heat-treating industries by becoming a “one stop shopping” source and a solutions provider for its growing extensive customer base. In 1992, our reach broadened even more as we started building furnaces under our Blue Diamond Furnaces Brand.

On January 1^st, 2018, Drew and Ashleigh Walters became majority owners of the company which they purchased from Drew’s father Ric Walters. Ashleigh Walters was named President of Onex and Drew Walters as Vice President. On July 15, 2020 they, decide to sell the business to their employees in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to enhance company culture and solidify Onex’s future.

While the majority of our work is done within 4-5-hour radius of our regional offices located in Erie and Pittsburgh, we have successfully completed projects across the entire United States, including Alaska, and have also subcontracted on international projects.