our current customers to see the need to expand and add more equipment to fi ll what we could see coming through the door. We were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the other facility. We still work 24 hours a day 6 days a week now. We’ve added three pieces of equipment—one
a facility larger than the 6000-ft² building they had fi rst envisioned. “Once we started laying everything out we thought we
needed 6000 ft² of actually machining space,” Carney said. They realized, however, that they would also need space
“We felt we were at a point where we were going to start losing money if we didn’t expand.”
used, and a new Omax 80X Water Jet and Mori Seiki Durav- ertical 5100 Machining Center—since we’ve gotten [into the new building]. And we are on the brink of needing to add a couple more pieces. “We felt we were at a point where we were going to start losing money if we didn’t expand.” Carney admits that there was some trepidation over
making the move, which was budgeted at $700,000 to purchase land, erect the building and buy equipment. A $170,000 loan at 2.5% interest from the city of Kokomo’s Technology and Industry Revolving Loan Fund, along with private fi nancing from Community First Bank of Indiana, helped make the project palatable. C-E’s plan to add 17 more jobs over
the next fi ve years was a key to tapping into the city’s loan fund. Debra Cook, Kokomo’s director of
development, told the Kokomo Tribune that the Industrial Revolving Loan Fund typically offers $10,000 for every job created to cover funding gaps com- panies cannot obtain through private loans and other fi nancial sources. C-E already has added fi ve employees since making the move, bringing total employment to 11, which includes the two partners as well as Carney’s father and wife.
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
• Great for conventional or portable machining applications.
Bigger than Imagined The prospect of continued growth
in terms of both the number of em- ployees and the volume of business also led the partners to construct
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for offi ces and other nonmachining needs. “So, we added a two-story space in front of the building,” he explained. “We only had to add a couple of feet to the height to accom- modate that. The increase in cost did not turn out to be that much different.
“Brian and I bought land large enough to expand and we hope to. After the initial fi ve-year period here our goal is to continue to grow. We believe our biggest opportunities are to diversify into areas that we are not in now.” ME
ERI America-02-13ME.pdf 1 1/15/2013 12:06:23 PM SHOWA SUPER DRILL
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