AJAX Company bounces back from adversity

A Howland official called the company's comeback 'overwhelming.'
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic Corp. has been growing at a significant clip since emerging from bankruptcy in September 2002.
When the company fell on hard times as competitors went after its accounts, the doors were locked June 28, 2002.
Sixty employees were out of work, and the company had only a $2 million inventory. The company later filed for bankruptcy.
Today, the plant employs 225 workers, including 30 to 35 engineers, with $30 million in inventory at its Overland Avenue plant.
"You can grin and bear it or smile and change it," Ajax president Thomas M. Illencik told employees Friday during a monthly employee meeting.
Growth
Illencik said the company grew by 15 percent in 2005 and anticipates 15 percent growth this year, not including new acquisitions.
Sales have doubled in three years.
Ajax has 780 employees worldwide with subsidiaries in China, Poland, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The company manufactures induction heating and melting equipment for various industries, including steel. It also heats metal to make it harder, thus more resistant to wear.
Competitors had gone after Ajax's customers in a sluggish economy, resulting in the plant closing.
Illencik explained that during the weekend of the closing, five company officials, including himself, met to see what they could do. The following Monday, the officials and 60 former employees stood outside the plant.
"We were willing to do anything to keep people employed," Illencik said.
The five officials went looking for other jobs and made contact with Park-Ohio Holding Co., which owned an Ajax competitor, TOCCO, an acronym for The Ohio Crankshaft Co.
The former Ajax employees were hired by TOCCO, Illencik explained.
Reopened
The plant reopened 17 days later and became a subsidiary of Park Ohio, a Cleveland holding company which also produced aluminum and rubber products. Ajax and TOCCO merged.
Darlene St. George, township administrator, who attended the plant meeting with township trustees, termed the company's comeback "overwhelming."
The $32,000 the company pays annually in property taxes and $100,000 in personal property taxes is used to raise the quality of education in Howland schools and support the safety forces, St. George said.
Ed Crawford, Ajax board chairman and Park Ohio's chief executive officer, said that including its suppliers, Ajax supports about 1,500 people.
He was proud to point out that during the recovery, Ajax didn't borrow any money.
"That's very important for us to understand. We're carrying our own weight," Crawford said.
Growth, he noted, is a result of Ajax taking business from the competition through quality products and service at lower prices.
"We'll compete worldwide with anybody who wants our products," Crawford said.
Illencik said that an example of the company's service is that product delivery from the Howland plant has a 93-percent on-time rate.
yovich@vindy.com