Mitch Garner, president of defense contractor Symetrics Industries, says a focus on improving business development has resulted in substantial annual revenue increases. [Photo: Brooke Pifer]

Times are tough, so Symetrics Industries makes a point of answering its e-mails fast. In 2007, the Melbourne defense manufacturer saw revenue pop to $44 million, up from $33 million the year before. “At the end of ’07, we sat back and said, ‘Wow, that was a crazy year. Let’s make ’08 better than ’07,’ ” says President Mitch Garner. They did. Revenue last year jumped to more than $50 million. He wants more of the same. “We’re going to continue that mantra of ’09 being better than ’08,” he says.

Credit demand for Symetrics’ three specialties: Flare dispensers and other protective countermeasures for military aircraft; data links that use existing radio systems to allow better battlefield communication; and electronic manufacturing services.

But also credit timely responses to e-mails. In 2007, Symetrics improved its business development department, and under a new leader it has a “passion for wowing the customer,” Garner says. The company invested heavily to have parts and assemblies in stock so that it could take jobs with quick turnaround times and fulfill them. Managers built a culture of responsiveness so that e-mails were answered quickly even if the answer was no more than a “we got it, we’re listening and we’re working on it,” he says.

Florida Manufacturing
Sector	Employment		Annual change
	2007	2015
Wood Products	21,960	24,254	1.31%
Primary Metals	5,652	5,899	0.55
Machinery	26,242	25,992	-0.12
Computer and Electronic Products	47,810	42,612	-1.36
Electrical Equipment and Appliances	8,890	8,366	-0.74
Transportation Equipment	44,605	45,519	0.26
Furniture and Related Products	18,973	18,681	-0.19
Food	30,521	29,073	-0.59
Beverage and Tobacco Products	10,794	11,290	0.57
Textile Mills	1,851	1,628	-1.51
Textile Product Mills	5,793	5,692	-0.22
Apparel	5,445	4,094	-3.10
Paper	10,281	9,636	-0.78
Printing and Related Activities	23,426	22,747	-0.36
Petroleum and Coal Products	2,998	3,321	1.35
Chemical	19,668	19,553	-0.07
Plastics and Rubber Products	15,909	15,799	-0.09
Total Manufacturing	402,897	404,458	0.05%
Source: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation

Defense manufacturers and biomedical manufacturers are doing well, says Nancy Stephens, executive director of the Manufacturers Association of Florida. Overall, though, manufacturing is seeing layoffs and closures, particularly in businesses tied to construction and automotive. “Everyone is trying to keep the business they have and look for new opportunities,” Stephens says. “2009 will be a year for new ideas, new ways of doing things and making sure they have employees with the right skills poised for growth when the economic times are better.”

» “In Florida, yes, there are manufacturers with tight margins that have closed, workers that have been laid off and property investments that have been devalued, but there are also manufacturers who are doing well, restructuring, taking time for introspection and positioning themselves for the upswing ... and it will come; it always does.” — Manufacturers Association of Florida President Al Stimac, president of Metal Essence in Sanford, in a speech opening the MAF’s annual summit in November

For example, Hoover Pumping Systems, a 45-employee Pompano Beach company that makes irrigation pumps for parks, schools, golf courses and commercial and residential developments, saw business drop 20% in 2008. “We were tied to the housing boom in a big way,” says Pete Lyons, production director. Commercial business remains good, he says. The company has ramped up service and rehab work while expecting a payoff from its development of an innovative high-tech system that allows remote monitoring of pump flow and pressure, a technology applicable beyond the irrigation market, he says.

Even with rising unemployment, though, Lyons reports that manufacturers like Hoover have trouble finding skilled workers. Dennis Segalewitz, quality control director for stamping and plastic components manufacturer Interplex Industries, which has operations in Fort Lauderdale and nearby Tamarac, is leading a group of 20 manufacturers in developing a four-year apprentice program for would-be toolmakers, welders and machinists in which students, beginning next school year, will work 2,000 hours per year for a manufacturer and attend a county school system training class for 144 hours. Segalewitz is hoping to expand the program.

Lyons says it’s needed. “It’s a dying art,” he says. “We’re actually bringing a lot of work back from China, and we need the skill-set. China’s getting too expensive.”