Article published Jan 9, 2004
By Peter Panepento peter.panepento@timesnews.com
Manufacturing Success - Metal parts maker named employer of the year for
2003
Jim Rutkowski has 84,000 square feet of evidence that manufacturing
is still very much alive in northwestern Pennsylvania.
While much of the rest of America's manufacturing base has been shrinking
since 2000, Rutkowski's company, Industrial Sales & Manufacturing,
has been expanding rapidly.
The Economic Development Corp. of Erie County on Thursday named Industrial
Sales & Manufacturing its manufacturing employer of the year. Just
one year ago, the metal-parts manufacturer squeezed about 80 employees
into its 40,000-square-foot shop at West 15th Street and Lowell Avenue
in Millcreek Township.Today, its work force totals about 110 and is spread
throughout the former Carlisle Engineered Products factory at West 12th
Street and Industrial Drive - a building that includes more than twice
as much floor space as its former Millcreek factory.
Rutkowski's family-run business spent about $1.5 million to acquire
and move into the new building.
It has also invested heavily in an array of high-tech machines - robotic
welders, plasma burners and flexible manufacturing systems - to improve
productivity, cut down on lead times and increase the range of parts the
company can produce. And it has done it all while fending off offers from
economic development agencies across the country to relocate the business
elsewhere.
The EDC award honors one Erie County manufacturing company annually that
has invested heavily in the community and has been exceptionally successful
in building its business.
"Just a continuation of steady growth in 2003 would have been a rarity
among local manufacturers," said Monica Brower, the EDC's chief operating
officer. "Their dramatic growth during an economic downturn, plus
their willingness to invest in further expansion" earned ISM the
recognition.
Rutkowski, 66, credits a heavy investment in cutting-edge equipment for
his company's growth.
As he walked through his new West 12th Street building on a recent afternoon,
he proudly pointed out the array of high-tech machines and computers that
help his company make parts for products as diverse as GE Rail locomotives,
golf carts, natural-gas valves and air compressors.
During the past year alone, his company made about 1.25 million distinct
parts for more than 80 customers.
Without the machinery - much of which runs without workers at the controls
- ISM would not be able to hit those lofty production goals, he said.
But Rutkowski added that his company would not have been able to hire
as many workers as it has without the machinery.
"The days of doing it manually are out the window anymore,"
said Rutkowski, who started the company more than 35 years ago with a
single drill press in his garage. "You just can't compete.
"People will say that with automation you're doing away with jobs,"
he added. "But people don't realize that when you have a machine
that does a higher volume of materials, you need people to process those
materials."
Rutkowski shares the credit for ISM's growth with his three children -
Jim Rutkowski Jr., Ann Rutkowski-Marx and Charlie Rutkowski.
All three hold leadership positions with the business and all have helped
push the company into new markets and new technology, he said.
By Peter Panepento peter.panepento@timesnews.com
