Swissturn USA to expand as workforce nearly doubles
Courtesy/Swissturn
Swissturn/USA's Oxford facility
Six years after moving into a new Oxford facility, Swissturn USA is planning to expand as it enjoys a strong precision machining market. President Ken Mandile told WBJ about the company’s plans and recent accomplishments.
How long as Swissturn been at the current facility?
We’ve been here since the summer of 2013, so about six years.
How big is the proposed expansion?
We’re looking at putting about 5,000 square feet on the back of our 25,000-square-foot building.
And you’re already expanding after a short amount of time?
We’ve added a lot more equipment in recent years. Our primary machines are CNC swiss screw machines. When we moved in, we had 26, and now I think we’re up to 39.
Plus we’ve added other equipment on top of those, so it’s filled up quickly.
Has that expansion coincided with increasing sales?
Our sales are up significantly since we moved in and over the last two or three years. From 2017 to 2018, our sales were up more than 30%. This year won’t be at that level, but it’s still healthy.
What is driving that growth?
It seems to be across the board. We don’t specialize in any one industry so we have a wide spectrum of customers, and it seems like they’ve all grown a lot. We do a lot of medical parts, some gun parts and laser parts. We do a little bit of everything so it’s worked out well for us.
The industry as a whole, the precision machining industry is booming right now so we’re benefiting from that.
Have the Trump Administration tariffs had any effect on the business?
It hasn’t been a significant impact. We see a little bit here, and there with some material price increases; but the material isn’t a significant part of our costs. It’s really the machining where the cost is.
How many employees have you added since 2013?
When we moved here, we had 35 employees. Now, we’re around 65.
Are any others being added after the expansion?
We could potentially add five more, but really the expansion is to support our current level of business and house more machines.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Staff Writer Zachary Comeau.
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