Staying sharp for expansion

Two building expansions may be needed in the next few years.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

AUSTINTOWN — An industrial company that recently moved to Austintown has plans to double or perhaps triple sales in three years.

Extreme Industrial Knife already knows something about expansion.

In the past four years, it has grown from three employees and $400,000 in annual sales to 15 employees and nearly $3 million in sales.

To accommodate the growth, the company moved in May from Salem to the former Decorative Aluminum plant on LeHarps Road.

That move — along with $3 million worth of new cutting equipment — will help the company increase sales to between $5 million and $10 million by 2010, said Greg Shook, vice president of sales.

Extreme Industrial Knife makes and repairs tools that cut, slice and pulverize.

For the steel industry, its computer-controlled equipment makes razor-sharp blades that are used to cut steel. It also produces blades that are used by printers to cut paper.

Biggest market

Its biggest market, however, is the plastics industry. It makes tools that cut, grind or pulverize plastic for recycling companies or make pellets for resin manufacturers.

Unlike the blades used to cut steel and paper, the tools for the plastics industries come in a variety of shapes, such as round drums with blades attached and circular disks that fit together to grind pellets into powder.

About 40 percent of the company’s business is making the tools from raw steel. The rest is service work. The company does basic sharpening of blades, but it also rebuilds equipment that has been damaged.

Shook said orders range from a $20 sharpening job to construction of a $30,000 rotor to cut plastic.

Only about 5 percent of the company’s sales are to Mahoning Valley companies, though Shook said he’s hoping to increase that with the move to Austintown.

The move provides the company with better highway access for its pick-up runs to customers from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. The company operates 24 hours a day, either five or six days a week.

With the expected growth, Extreme Industrial Knife has three more cutting and grinding machines on order. They cost about $600,000.

Looking ahead

To fit them in, the company plans to build a 5,000-square-foot addition to its 14,000-square-foot plant next year. It is planning another addition in 2009 or 2010.

The key to the company’s success has been customer service and developing innovative products, Shook said. That’s why he and Dan Miller, company chief executive, make a good team.

Miller, 37, of Berlin Center, founded the company in 2000. Shook, 43, of Cuyahoga Falls, left a Kent-based company that he helped create and bought an ownership interest in Miller’s company in 2003.

Both men had been involved previously with companies that made industrial cutting equipment.

Shook said he left the Kent company because he knew Miller’s technical expertise and his marketing experience would be a good combination.

“He and I always stayed in touch when we were competitors, and we had a mutual respect for each other,” Shook said.

Shook said he’s confident the business will continue to expand because they are working hard to stay close to customers and understand what their needs are.

Some machine shops fail to expand because they don’t have a clear vision, he said. At Extreme Industrial Knife, the focus is on making and repairing cutting tools.

shilling@vindy.com