| AC Tech Celebrates New Space, Ships Its Millionth Product |
[Dec. 13th, 2006|12:08 pm] |
The 250 employees at AC Technology Corp. marked a couple of milestones recently, completing the move into a 75,000-square-foot addition and manufacturing their millionth product. The company, which was started in 1983 in the former Draper Mill complex in Hopedale, manufactures variable frequency drives, which are used to control the speed of electric motors. About 40 percent of the company’s products serve the international market, company officials said. Darrow F. Hanesian of Fiskdale, director of product management, said the Douglas Street company shipped 40 drives a month in 1994.
Last month, it shipped nearly 15,000, he said. AC Technology has achieved growth by investing in automation, he said. And while the company has added to its payroll, it has managed costs, Mr. Hanesian said. “We had to hire a great deal of people,” he said. “We’ve done some good managing of labor costs and our production costs.” Peter G. Joyal of Northboro, vice president of manufacturing, said the company builds all of its products in-house, including products for Lenze AG, the German company that purchased AC Technology in 1999. Lenze is a privately owned, international group of companies that manufactures power electronics and motors.
AC Technology has a plant in Kansas that assembles power transmission parts made in Germany. The company started out making variable frequency drives for electric motors, but expanded into other electronic motion control devices, , Mr. Hanesian said. Applications for the company’s products include controlling the speed and other factors on a pitching machine and controlling the pumps on carwash equipment. The University of Maryland, for example, uses AC Technology products to control the temperature and fans in the campus heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. To accommodate expansion, last year the company sold one of its buildings and added on to the remaining 50,000-square-foot structure, for a total of 125,000 square feet, along with 12,000 square feet of basement space for the engineering department, Mr. Joyal said. The company gradually moved into the new space, completing the move in the spring.
The firm is profitable, but Mr. Hanesian declined to speak about its finances. In the first quarter ended July 31 sales were up 27 percent from the same quarter a year ago, he said. Mr. Hanesian said he expects the company will have $300 million in sales annually within five years. Most of the company’s U.S. competition has moved its manufacturing out of the country, he said.
“We’ve stayed ahead of the curve,” he said. “The way we were able to do it was to invest in research and development and automation. We didn’t spend when we didn’t need to, we invested wisely and we were not afraid to invest in our future. “We’re ahead of the growth curve, and we’ll spend to drive our growth,” Mr. Hanesian said. When competitors went through a few rounds of layoffs over the last five years or so, AC Technology seized the opportunity to snap up quality workers in a range of areas, he said. “When that happens, you’re letting good people go,” he said. “We went on a raid and got some good people in all areas.” The company held a celebration two weeks ago, with the production of its millionth product, a unit of the company’s new SMVector motor control. Mr. Hanesian said the company would continue to expand its product line.
“It’s a very fast-paced culture here,” he said. “That’s one of the main things that has kept us at the top.” Most of AC Technology’s competition is from multibillion-dollar companies with diverse manufacturing divisions, he said. “This is what we eat, sleep and breathe every day,” he added. “Each generation of electronics gets smaller, less expensive and has better parts.” Mr. Hanesian said the company still provides support and parts for its older “legacy” products. “It’s important for us to tighten up that contact” between customer service and users of the company’s products, he said. “While other companies are going to India (to provide customer service) and increasing that distance, we’re shortening it.” The company purchased 40 acres of land contiguous to the headquarters where up to 40,000 additional square feet of building space could be constructed, he said.
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