EAST SYRACUSE, NY - Chuck Lincoln opens a metal
cabinet where the electrical cables are marked with a style of lettering so old,
you can't tell if it's from the 1950s or the 1930s.
The cabinet belongs to a lathe Bomac is
refurbishing for Crucible Specialty Metals in Geddes, NY. By the time the
workers at Bomac finish their work on the lathe the length of a flatbed truck,
it will be operated by a modern, technological marvel of a control center.
"Because of the change in the economy, we do
more retrofits or rebuilds as companies (such as Crucible) upgrade their
equipment," Lincoln said.
Bomac, of East Syracuse, NY, has been making
equipment that runs machines since 1959. For most of its history, it built new
control centers to run machines in big local factories. Then the companies moved
their factories down south or to foreign countries, and Bomac found itself doing
10 percent of its business in the area and the rest overseas.
"We serve the world," said Rocky Yemma, the
company's customer service manager.
Bomac designs control panels, conveyors,
robots, process and motion controls and the custom software that goes into the
computers that run them.
At first, the company experienced a dip in
business when those factories chose foreign competitors to build the equipment
that allows their machines to talk to one another, said Lincoln.
Then the companies saw their foreign-made
equipment failing more often. Although the companies spent less money for the
equipment at first, they spent more after installation to keep it running, said
Bomac President Kevin T. Knecht. So they returned to Bomac, he said.
"We're going to give you something that works,"
Knecht said.
Bomac had depended on a few large customers for
its business. Now, like many smaller companies, it has moved beyond those
customers to find customers in different industries, Knecht said.
Knecht, who was named company president in
January, said he thinks Bomac will grow its sales by 10 percent and its profit
by 3 percent this year.
"It's been through the last three years that
the economy came to a screeching halt. Now we see things picking up," he said.
