Despite the recession, these local businesses have the ... DRIVE‚âto THRIVE

October 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

111But amid the gloom and doom of high unemployment and slow recovery, a number of resilient companies have thrived during the decline.

Warren-based manufacturer Vista Window is one such business. The company, which makes replacement vinyl windows, has grown by nearly 200 percent since 2006, reporting $30 million in revenue last year.

Opportunities

“I think our success has been a combination of experience and finding the right opportunities, said Ed Kalaher, Vista’s vice president. “Sometimes a smaller, entrepreneurial company can have an advantage over larger competitors.”

Founded in 2001 by a group of former Polaris Technologies employees, Vista Window has flourished despite the precipitous fall of the construction industry. Several companies that made windows for new homes have gone out of business, and Vista has been able to capitalize on the available market capacity, Kalaher said

The company’s Elm Road facility, which employs 120 workers, produced more than 100,000 windows in 2009, he said. The company recently opened a smaller plant in Georgia that has 60 workers.

Vista’s growth shows no signs of slowing. The company recently signed an agreement to produce a line of products for Home Depot, and it plans to open a second facility in Warren to meet growing demand.

“There is nothing that we can’t do that the biggest company can do,” he said.

This entrepreneurial approach to manufacturing also has been the driving factor behind the success of Niles-based company Jet Stream International, one of the 50 fastest-growing private manufacturers in the country, according to Inc. magazine.

Like Vista, Jet Stream has thrived on its ability to be flexible and responsive to customers in today’s economy. The company, which employs 36 workers at a 73,000-square-foot facility on Summit Avenue, makes component parts used for hanging plumbing and electrical systems in commercial construction.

Jet Stream’s primary competition comes from China — not usually a recipe for success for a domestic manufacturer — but the company has remained competitive by driving labor costs down through technology and innovation, said Jet Stream co-owner Ed Rumble.

“When we started the business, we set it up and organized the infrastructure to allow us to grow,” Rumble said. “We targeted a niche that was unfulfilled in the U.S. market and gave people an alternative to going to China.”

Jet Stream has grown 117 percent in the last three years, as the recession forced customers to shy away from bringing in the large inventories that make overseas purchases profitable.

“It has been an opportunity for us to swoop in,” Rumble said. “Sometimes you can take advantage of downturns; sometimes it can be an asset.”

SenSource, a Youngstown company that specializes in sensor technology, also has experienced a boom in business in recent years.

Founded in 2002, SenSource got its start in industrial sensors, such as parts counters and equipment monitoring, but it has shifted its focus to traffic-monitoring technology.

The company says it has grown 213 percent since 2006, based largely on growing demand for its traffic-monitoring products by retail chains. The products, which provide near real-time data on foot and vehicle traffic and compare it to point-of-sale transactions, are used by a number of major multinational companies including Abercrombie and Fitch and Disney Co.

SenSource co-owner Joseph Varacalli attributes the increased demand to economic pressures that have forced retailers to make informed choices about marketing and staffing.

“More and more, retailers are becoming aware that they need to collect this data,” Varacalli said. “Companies have had to make smarter marketing decisions, and our products are designed in a way that is flexible and can give customers what they need.”

SenSource’s growth shows no signs of slowing any time soon, Varacalli said. The company recently moved into a 10,000-square-foot facility on Oakwood Avenue, and increased its staff to 14 this year to meet demand.

SenSource is now expanding its environmental-sensor product lines with temperature, humidity and vibration sensors, designed primarily for the health-care industry, museums and industrial food storage, Varacalli said. He added that the company expects at least 30 percent annual growth for the next few years.

The area’s budding software industry continues to be a bright spot on the Valley’s economic landscape.

Pharmacy Data Management and Internet Data Management — sister companies owned by Doug Wittenauer of Poland — recently moved into a new building on Western Reserve Road, Poland, to accommodate their growth.

Pharmacy Data Management, which manages pharmacy benefits programs, has experienced major growth since the 2004 launch of its PharmacyBenefit Direct retail pharmacy network, which connects more than 60,000 chain and independent pharmacies across the country.

In an industry dominated by CareMark and Medco, Pharmacy Data Management has climbed into the ranks of the top 20 claims processors in the country. And the company sees the potential for continued growth.

“It is a big market, and there is a lot of opportunities to grow,” Wittenauer said. “Health-care reform opens up a lot of doors, and with the aging of the baby boomers, utilization is increasing.”

In downtown Youngstown’s emerging high-tech cluster, Turning Technologies remains the major success story. The former Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio company posted $33.6 million in revenue last year and continues plans to expand.

The company, which opened its first overseas office in Amsterdam this summer, was acquired by a Florida-based private equity firm as part of a recapitalization plan to facilitate Turning’s continued growth.

But Turning’s success could soon be rivaled by BizVeo, an Incubator portfolio company that is poised for growth, according to Incubator chief executive Jim Cossler.

BizVeo, headed by Turning founder Tony DeAscentis, is looking to redefine business communications through its message-pod system.

The system, which incorporates video, text and viewer-response features, increases the level of participation and comprehension of its recipients, compared to typical text-only messages such as e-mail, DeAscentis said.

“It’s a new way of thinking about your day-to-day communication,” he said. “It increases engagement between you and your staff and you and your suppliers.”

BizVeo, which started to come together in September 2009, has concentrated on the health-care industry, but is in the middle of a relaunch that will broaden the company’s focus to include companies in other sectors, including retail.

, DeAscentis said.

“We are still in the beginning stages of things,” he said. “We should really turn a corner in 2011.”