November 10, 2014
Shop Talk
Q&A with K. Andrew Borg, President, Borg Design
K. Andrew Borg, President, Borg Design, Hudson
By Rick Saia
K. ANDREW BORG, PRESIDENT, BORG DESIGN, HUDSON
RESIDENCE: Sudbury
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Borg Design will mark its 70th anniversary next year, and will celebrate it in a new, larger location in Hudson that it bought earlier this year. It also plans to expand its staff from 20 to 25. The family-owned business, a contract manufacturer and provider of machining and engineering consulting services, also makes a tattoo machine that it sells to professionals who specialize in the omnipresent “body art” industry.
The company is coming to the end of its seventh decade. When you look back on that, how gratifying is it that it has made it this far?
Very gratifying, because it's a family business; my grandfather started it, and then (it passed to) my father. My brother works here, and even over the years we've had a lot of other relatives working here. It's very satisfying that it's survived to the third generation, and survived strongly.
How did it begin in 1945? What was it offering then?
My grandfather started it in his basement, by himself. He was working in Waltham as a machinist and bought a (machine) and a lathe, put it in his basement, and got one or two customers and started making parts. It eventually grew into a large garage he had in his backyard that was actually 1,600 square feet. We probably had up to eight employers there at one time. And then we moved from there.
What do you see as the company's critical differentiator today?
As a machine shop, we make parts for customers, but we don't just make exactly what they draw on a piece of paper. We offer suggestions and solutions to make it more efficient, more cost effective. We notice when things are drawn (if) they won't actually work, so we try to provide our customers with answers and solutions and what they really need, as opposed to making whatever they say even if it won't work.
What does it take for a manufacturing company such as yours to grow and thrive today?
One thing is a little bit of luck. But the most important thing is the employees, and that can be very hard to find. The machining skill and the manufacturing skillsets in this state – probably in this whole country – are becoming less popular. Not very many people are going into it, so we wind up having to do a lot of training ourselves and teaching people ourselves. It's hard to find those superstar employees right off the streets.
That time for training, is that a drag on productivity?
Absolutely. We started working with (the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership in Worcester). That helps. We found a lot of people through there. They have some skillsets, but to be a really good machinist takes 10 years if you're smart and if you're able to do a lot of different things.
There's a lot of effort today around the skills that future employees in the industry need to help fill those pipelines of talent. What's the most critical skill they need?
The ability to think about solutions on their own. Nothing ever goes exactly as you planned, so you need to be able to adjust your thought process or your plan of attack or your approach to what seems to be working, what will work better, what the customer actually needs. That, and overall effort.
Your move across town will mean more jobs. Longer term, how much do you see the company expanding?
That's a hard question to answer exactly. We have a lot of plans to grow and expand in a variety of ways: one, by increasing what we do, which is contract manufacturing. Another is by increasing our own products. We have one product right now, (the) tattoo machine, but it's a very small part of our overall sales. We hope to expand that by adding different variations (of it). And we are looking into two or three other products that we can own or control. n
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