High-tech firms showing signs of recovery
As published on page 13 of the July 23, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
SWANZEY -- The ABTech crew is floating on air.
The Swanzey company designs and manufactures machinery with moving parts separated by pressurized air -- air bearings -- for use in high-tech applications, including jet engines and machines for making optical lenses.
The 13-year-old firm is handling twice as many orders as it had this time last year, according to Kenneth D. Abbott, company president.
"2011 is by far the best year in the history of our company," he said.
ABTech has hired three new people this summer, bringing its workforce to 15.
The company is one of several local manufacturers of high-tech products showing signs of growth in an otherwise sluggish economic recovery.
Peterborough's N.H. Ball Bearings, owned by Minebea Co. Ltd., recently hired more than 40 full-time employees, according to Donna Marcin, human resources manager.
Those hires brought the company to more than 600 employees, she said, almost the size it was before the recession -- through which it avoided layoffs but stopped replacing employees who left. The company is still hiring for about a dozen openings, either for new positions or to replace workers who are retiring, she said.
"We've positioned ourselves well on new programs and new subsystems," said Robyn Nattila, marketing manager.
The company recently announced a supplier contract with the European aerospace company Hispano-Suiza, which makes control and electrical systems for clients including Snecma, Rolls-Royce, General Electric, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault Aviation, Eurocopter and Gulfstream.
N.H. Ball Bearings' sales are up more than 10 percent from last year, according to Nattila, and she say's there's a good chance for more growth in the company's Peterborough division.
Another local manufacturer, Kingsbury Corp. of Keene, was recently chosen by Simmons Machine Tool Corp. of Albany, N.Y., to produce some of the company's products, according to Simmons' President David William Davis.
The company builds machines that make and maintain wheel sets for railroads, said Davis, former head of Precitech in Keene, and needs Kingsbury's experience to expand its production capacity.
The projects will last from three to five years, building machines that sell for between $300,000 and $750,000, Davis said, but there may be other projects in the future.
"I don't see why (the partnership) wouldn't go on as long as possible," he said.
Representatives from Kingsbury did not return phone calls for this story.
Analysts predict manufacturing employment in New Hampshire will continue to decline over the next decade, but the sector's contribution to the economy is still significant, according to Fred H. Kocher, president of the N.H. High Technology Council, an industry advocacy group.
Technology and high-tech products account for 25 percent of New Hampshire's gross state product, Kocher said. Of that, he estimates two thirds comes from manufacturing, while the other third is made up of software development and information technology.
"This is a high-tech state. And a lot of people wouldn't think that because we're New Hampshire and we have lakes and mountains and tourism, but we're high tech as well," he said.
ABTech is the only company of its kind in the United States, a fact that gives it an advantage over its competitors, according to Abbott. As a small company, it has the flexibility for personalized technical support and customized products that competitors in Japan, Germany and England can't match, he said.
And while more traditional manufacturing of items such as textiles and wood products -- once central to New Hampshire's economy -- might never come back, Abbot is optimistic about the future of his business.
"You have to have a niche. The high-production business, where you're making thousands of something, that's all gone overseas. We're really focused on the high-precision, specialized equipment," he said.
And that cutting-edge technology is a key to success, according to Kocher. Other attributes he thinks are essential to a successful manufacturing company include "really good management -- management that is looking to run the company is a competitive way," and ongoing research and development.
ABTech recently developed a new product that measures the roundness of an object -- such as a jet engine component -- within 2 millionths of an inch. Customers who have signed new contracts include General Electric and Boeing, Abbott said.
The roundness gauge, which costs about $30,000, consists of a rotating platform suspended on a air bearing, and a measuring arm connected to a computer terminal that displays jagged circular graphs.
"The guys who work here, they know how to get this level of accuracy. They're very highly skilled," said Abbott, who is also one of the company's engineers.
His emphasis on the accomplishments and skill of the company's employees points to another key to success.
Manufacturers "need to keep their workforce happy," Kocher said. "Engineers are in short supply."
Schools, including Keene State College and River Valley Community College, have launched programs in recent years to train students to enter the high-tech workforce, but demand for such skills still outpaces supply.
"Finding skilled manufacturing workers -- it's not hard, it's impossible," Abbott said.
The company is considering a in-house apprentice program, he said, but "that's a lot of work for a small company."
And a busy company. Workers are putting in a lot of overtime, according to Abbott, and he's starting to travel more for sales, with a trip to a Chicago for a trade show planned for the fall.
A map on the wall of the machine shop serves as a reminder that ABTech products are already in use in 15 countries around the world.
New Hampshire is a "very entrepreneurial" state and a fertile ground for startups like ABTech, according to Kocher.
"Our strength is in the first, second and third stages of growth. If (companies) are successful in that third stage they're kind of vulnerable to being bought out by a bigger company," he said. "We're going to have to work hard to keep those companies here."
That work includes ensuring a supply of skilled and talented employees, he said, as well as keeping an eye on the regulatory and tax environments.
But it's work that yields returns in economic activity and employment.
"We're really busy -- it's a good thing, thought. It's a good busy," said Marcin of N.H. Ball Bearings. "We've hired a lot of really great people and they seem to like what they do. I see them smiling in the hall, and I always like that."
tagged with: business, economy, feature, high-tech, manufacturing, recovery
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