Optical components sales growth necessitates $4M expansion for Sydor Optics
Rochester, NY--Stefan Sydor Optics is in the midst of a $4 million expansion, adding numerous pieces of equipment for flat optics manufacturing to keep up with rocketing optical components sales growth, according to an article in the Democrat and Chronicle by Matthew Daneman. "We've got customers driving us nuts," said Sydor Optics general manager Michael N. Naselaris half jokingly.
Daneman reports that the company manufactures optics for such industries as entertainment, military, biomedicine, and scientific research and development. Optics for 3D motion pictures, both filming and projection, has become a major growth area in recent years. And the recession that sent much of the domestic auto industry and the construction industry into a near death spiral largely passed optics by, said CEO James Sydor, whose father founded the business in 1964.
"All of our customers are very busy, so even in 2009 we were fortunate to have growth," Sydor said. "Our customers kept getting busier and busier. To meet their demands, I had no choice--either invest in equipment or turn work away. It's a great time to be in the optics business. More and more things are being done with light and photons. It's cutting-edge technology."
The company had revenues of $10 million last year, an amount it matched earlier this month as 13 of its 15 largest customers have increased their purchases over last year's, Naselaris said. It is running two manufacturing shifts seven days a week. The company currently employs 72, with 21 people added so far this year. And it has a backlog of sales lined up that will take it through the first half of 2011.
The new equipment installations started in March and will run through March 2011. They include more than a dozen parking-space-sized double-sided grinding and polishing machines made by Pennsylvania firm PR Hoffman. Two of those machines can handle particularly large optics.
The pace of work at Sydor is interfering somewhat with the investments necessitated by all that work. An 18-inch interferometer bought as part of the expansion and to be used in measuring optics has yet to be assembled because the company is busy just keeping up with workload, Naselaris said.
SOURCE: Democrat and Chronicle; www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20101020/BUSINESS/10200358/1001/BUSINESS
Posted by:Gail Overton
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