Shop navigates recession, moves ahead

Courtesy of All images: Stark Industrial

Three generations of the Wilkof family work at Stark Industrial LLC. From left: Sam, Raymond and Jonathan.

The following is an interview with Sam Wilkof, vice president of Stark Industrial LLC, North Canton, Ohio. The family-owned and -operated company has 34 employees, including three generations of Wilkofs: Sam’s father, Raymond, is president; his son, Jonathan, is a manufacturing engineer, and his wife, Susan, is director of corporate relations.

Stark Industrial operates several Mazak turning centers, a Citizen Swiss-style machine and manual lathes; five cylindrical grinding machines; six tool and cutter grinders, including two 5-axis Walter units; four Mazak milling machines; three EDMs; and a variety of inspection equipment and fabricating and finishing equipment. More than 97 percent of its equipment was purchased new; 80 percent or more is less than 10 years old.

The shop celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 and weathered the recession in better shape than many shops its size. The interview, by Editorial Director Alan Rooks, focuses on how the shop accomplished that.

Rooks: What was your strategy for riding out the recession?

Wilkof: If, for example, you are heavily invested in automotive, you may have many ups and downs. We try to not focus on any one industry, which helps even out those blips. The top three industries we serve are steel processing, food processing and combustion control (environmental monitoring) equipment, but we serve many more.

However, what happened over the past 24 months could hardly be called a blip. No one escaped. Our business was strong through June of last year, but July through September was very bad. We closely monitored orders and backlogs and reduced hours accordingly across the board. We didn’t have to lay anyone off.

Rooks: How do you maintain a diversified customer base?

Wilkof: It is difficult to manage but it helps to stay on top of trends in various industries. If you are doing business with a larger company, like General Electric or Motorola, it’s a good idea to subscribe to news flashes from those companies’ Web sites. We also keep an eye on legislation that may affect the companies. That information can alert us to possible business opportunities.

Rooks: Does your shop make piece parts or finished products?

Wilkof: We make everything from single parts to assemblies containing as many as 250 parts where we are responsible for testing and shipping to the end user on behalf of our customer. We’ve even taken on entire product lines.

Rooks: What is the biggest strength of your operation?