August, 2018
Continued from previous page Libra Industries: Mentor, Ohio
As a boy, while mowing lawns and working a paper route, Rod Howell had dreams of being an entrepre- neur. In 1980, out of a garage in Ohio, Rod and his father Bill start- ed a machine shop named Libra Ma- chine. This shop evolved into Libra Industries when they began to man- ufacture industrial diamond cutting tools.
Eventually, they hired their
first employee, Rod’s younger brother Chris. Facing the industrial reces-
www.us-tech.com Family Businesses of the Electronics Industry
gers working for different companies. Ben was an electrical engineer spe- cializing in design who owned KBS, Inc., an engineering contract manu- facturer. Margy worked for Tyco Printed Circuit Group as a process engineer. One day, Ben commissioned
Tyco to have a PCB made and Ben and Margy began a customer-sup- plier relationship. In fact, to this day there is still a difference of opin- ion as to why the board did not work!
Fast forward to 1990, and Tyco was closing its Fort Lauderdale divi-
Margy and Ben Khoshnood of Inovaxe.
sion. Wanting to stay in Florida, Margy applied for and was given a quality engineering job at KBS. She was quickly thrust into the fast lane, when in her first few weeks a Ford Q101 audit was due. Margy was pro- moted to quality manager and began dipping her toes into sales. She quickly rose through the ranks and was appointed executive VP. KBS continued to grow and Ben sold the company in 1998. Ever the entrepreneur, Ben
started a new design and EMS com- pany that expanded rapidly. During
Continued on next page
Page 37
What is your PCB profile now? ...and now?
Rod Howell and daughter Jennifer Kiminas of Libra Industries.
sion of the early 1980s, the trio strug- gled to keep the small company afloat. They decided to branch out and pave the way for new opportuni- ties in electronics assembly. By 1987, the Howells had invested $200,000 in SMT equipment, which was every penny they had, and moved to a larg- er facility. “At the time we couldn’t afford a
sales team,” says Rod, president of Libra Industries. “So, we invited po- tential clients to tour the facility and see what we had to offer. This at- tracted a lot of prospects, similar to what we do today. We won customers by jumping through hoops to meet their needs, and by maintaining our reputation.” By 1994 Libra Industries’ sales
surpassed $10 million and the com- pany required an even larger facility. Today, the company has $50 million in sales, recently acquired three other companies, has 250 employees, and over 150,000 ft2 (13,936m2) of plant space between its Ohio and Texas facilities. Rod’s daughter Jennifer Kimi-
nas also works at Libra as its mar- keting and communications manag- er. “The difference in our family busi- ness is the culture,” says Kiminas. “We treat our employees like our own family. We have created traditions like Green Day and host lots of fun events, much like a family would. We have zero tolerance for treating peo- ple poorly. We often refer to our asso- ciates as the Libra Industries family because that is how we feel about them.”
In fact, Rod has been quoted as
saying that it is important to “find and keep good people,” noting that Libra Industries rewards its dedicat- ed employees with trips for their 10-, 20- and 30-year anniversaries.
Inovaxe: Deerfield Beach, Florida
Though Inovaxe was founded in 2003, its story begins in 1985. Ben and Margy Khoshnood were stran -
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