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Targeted matching, not random browsing: You explain the problem, constraints, and success metrics. Umbrex narrows to consultants who have done the specific work before, and who can start when you need them.
Big-firm training across a full range of seniority: Business Analyst, Associate, Engagement Manager, Associate Partner, and Partner. The majority have prior experience at a top-tier global consulting firm, so they bring structured problem solving and executive-ready communication.
Bias for action, consultants who will do the work: Not just slides. Independent consultants roll up sleeves, build analysis, create materials, run the workplan, align stakeholders, and help implement.
Flexible engagement models: Part-time 1 to 2 days per week, full-time 5 days per week, interim, fractional. One consultant or a small team. A bespoke solution based on the job to be done.
Lehigh Valley logistics hub. Allentown sits on the I-78 and US 22 corridor with fast access to the Northeast, supported by Norfolk Southern rail lines and Lehigh Valley International Airport. This platform makes the metro a preferred base for e-commerce, cold chain, and regional distribution.
Manufacturing, trucks, and materials. A legacy in cement, metals, and precision shops underpins modern production, with Mack Trucks assembly in nearby Macungie and industrial gases leadership from Air Products in the metro area. Suppliers in plastics, packaging, and machinery round out a durable industrial base.
Universities and healthcare anchors. Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College, Cedar Crest College, and DeSales University supply talent in engineering, business, and the sciences. Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke’s University Health Network provide clinical scale and research partnerships.
Canal heritage and cultural core. The Lehigh River and the historic Lehigh Canal shaped early industry, while downtown institutions such as the Allentown Art Museum and the PPL Center sustain year-round events. The city is also known for safeguarding the Liberty Bell in 1777 at Zion’s Church during the British occupation of Philadelphia.
Employers choose Allentown for corridor reach, manufacturing know-how, and scalable sites, and Umbrex connects them with consultants who know how to execute across the Lehigh Valley.
Allentown’s economy begins along the Lehigh River, a tributary that cuts a natural corridor through the Appalachians and joins the Delaware at Easton. Indigenous peoples traveled and traded on these rivers for centuries. In 1762 Philadelphia merchant William Allen laid out a town he called Northampton, later known as Northampton Town, on a ridge above the Lehigh’s floodplain. During the Revolutionary War, the Liberty Bell was hidden in what is now Zion’s Reformed Church in 1777 while British forces occupied Philadelphia, a moment that fixed the settlement in national memory. The borough adopted the name Allentown in 1838 to honor its founder and incorporated as a city in 1867.
Waterway improvements and anthracite transformed the region’s prospects. The Lehigh Navigation system, completed in the late 1820s, and the connecting Delaware Canal carried coal from the mountains around Mauch Chunk to tidewater markets. Canal basins, wharves, and warehouses multiplied along the river, and ironmaking followed fuel and transport. Nearby Catasauqua’s Crane Iron Works began production in 1839 using anthracite in blast furnaces, and Allentown added foundries, mills, and shops that leveraged ready access to coal, limestone, and water. The arrival of railroads in the 1850s, notably the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Lehigh and Susquehanna, layered speed and winter reliability onto the canal era, tying Allentown to Philadelphia, New York, and interior mines and quarries.
Industrial diversity deepened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Silk and textile mills clustered in and around the city, drawing a skilled workforce and immigrant entrepreneurs. The Lehigh Valley’s “cement belt” matured as Portland cement plants opened across Lehigh and Northampton counties, supplying a national building boom. Mack Trucks moved operations to the area in the early 1900s and became a signature manufacturer, while power and utilities consolidated in Allentown when Pennsylvania Power & Light, now PPL Corporation, formed in 1928 with headquarters downtown. Streetcars, interurbans, and new roadways knit neighborhoods to factories, depots, and riverfront yards.
Highways and airports extended reach after World War II. The Lehigh Valley Thruway opened sections of limited-access US 22 in the 1950s, the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension connected the region to state and national corridors, and I-78 later provided a direct east west interstate across the valley. The Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton Airport, today’s Lehigh Valley International Airport, began operations in 1929 and expanded with jet service, supporting business travel and, later, air cargo. Regional shocks arrived late in the 20th century as textiles declined, steelmaking in neighboring Bethlehem wound down in the 1990s, and some legacy plants restructured, yet diversified manufacturers, cement, and industrial gases remained pillars.
In the 21st century the metro capitalized on its location and institutions. The I-78 and I-81 corridor emerged as a premier East Coast distribution spine, and the Lehigh Valley became a hub for e-commerce and cold chain facilities that serve New York, New Jersey, and Mid-Atlantic markets. Norfolk Southern intermodal capacity in the valley connected shippers to ports on the Atlantic, while Lehigh Valley International Airport expanded cargo handling. Health systems grew clinical and research footprints, and universities strengthened engineering and business programs that feed advanced manufacturing and supply chain roles. Downtown Allentown reinvested with the PPL Center opening in 2014 and adjoining mixed-use projects that brought residents and employers back to the core. Today Allentown integrates a canal-born river town, a railroad and mill city, a cement and truck manufacturing center, and a modern logistics and healthcare hub linked by interstates, rail, and air. Umbrex helps organizations turn this foundation into results by connecting them with consultants who understand regulated manufacturing, corridor logistics, and site selection from the downtown core to the I-78 and US 22 industrial districts.
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