 Sue O'Hearn assembling parts at FALA Technologies |
Now, rather than having 80 percent of its business tied to the technology giant, FALA has a mere five percent. And instead of concentrating its market in the Hudson Valley, it's operating on a global scale. According to Falatyn, IBM has indirectly helped in this area as well—a significant portion of FALA Technologies' new client base has come from engineers who left the shrinking company for other pastures. "I would get these calls from companies I had never heard of, with the engineer saying, remember when you made such and such component for IBM, well, we think you can help us on this project," Falatyn notes. "We got a lot of new customers that way. That network helped us expand our business."
FALA Technologies was started in 1946 as a custom engineering and precision machine manufacturer by Falatyn's father. With the change in direction came a change in location, and the company moved into its specifically designed 50,000-square-foot space in 1996. Along with incorporating "constructive eavesdropping" into its office layout—sliding doors that allow employees in different departments to listen to each other's discussions and problem-solve when necessary—the new building contains a quality control area and a "clean room" for specific assembly needs.
 Frank Falatyn, owner of FALA Technologies, and Sue O'Hearn (background) in a dust-free environment |
In addition to designing and constructing components and machines for technology companies, FALA is also involved in "supply chain manufacturing," in which it manufactures and ships products directly to customers under the contractor's label. An outgrowth of that has been the development of FALA's own line of products, including a ceramic bearing used in robotic handling systems that lasts two years (as opposed to the six months of its closest competitor, Falatyn notes) before needing to be replaced. According to Falatyn, the bearing, which has been on the market for six years, is a "multimillion dollar business for us. We sell it to the Intels, the IBMs, the Motorolas. We're now branching into the Chinese market with it."
The company also plans to unveil a new product line this month to accommodate the larger computer chip wafer currently being marketed by technology manufacturers. "We're trying to stay competitive cost-wise and efficiency-wise, but we also need to stay competitive design-wise," Falatyn adds.
According to Falatyn, FALA's strength is that it begins with raw stock and goes from there. "We still actually build everything here. We don't subcontract things out," he says. While the company cannot compete with high-volume companies (Falatyn admits that when a client's product becomes too successful, FALA tends to lose the account), what it does provide is the ability to customize and create designs in a very precise way. "Our job is to develop the next technology, the next prototype, the next type of robotic hand," he adds.
Hands On As Frank Falatyn, owner of FALA Technologies points out, everyone in the custom engineering and precision manufacturing company "works with our hands," including himself. But, he adds, it's getting harder and harder to find qualified employees. "In my father's generation, who would work here would be kids who worked under cars," he says. "The problem is, there aren't any kids working with their hands anymore. The car repairs are all computerized." Falatyn, who serves on the advisory board of the BOCES in Port Ewen, says there are some candidates through that organization and others who come out of two-year technical colleges, but for the most part "we do a lot of the training ourselves." Another source is workers from downsized companies in the South and the Midwest, he adds, where manufacturing is still prevalent. Once he finds a qualified employee, Falatyn adds, he doesn't let them go. During the economic downturn following the dot-com bust, he refused to lay anybody off. "I had half of the company doing shop work," he recalls. "They were painting and reorganizing the area, and I was out there with the sales force trying to drum up business." There are even two men in their 70s who have been with the company for 40 years who still come in on a part-time basis. "I won't let them retire," Falatyn says with a laugh. "I give them all of my fussy work. It's a tough business. It's not like working in a retail store." |
After a brief downturn during the Internet bust, Falatyn says FALA Technologies is back on track. With 48 employees, eight of whom are engineers, and $5 to $10 million in annual sales, FALA is "as busy as we were during the Internet boom days," according to Falatyn. And the company is growing—inventing more products and hiring new people. Falatyn attributes a lot of the new surge to efforts being made on a state level to increase the market for technology companies.
"In April, I'm going with other manufacturing companies to the semi-conductor conference, Semicon Europa, in Munich," Falatyn points out. "I went last year for the first time. I never would have gone if New York State hadn't organized it." The next step, as far as Falatyn is concerned, is to encourage the start-up of more technology companies in the area. "We're here because we grew up here," he notes. "The trick is to start creating more entrepreneurs building these kinds of companies. My company will probably double in size in the next 10 years. That's not much, but it's 100 technology jobs in the Hudson Valley. If we have five or six companies like that, that would bring a much more diverse, stable work force to the area. And technology companies are environmentally friendly. For the most part we use water-soluble coolants that are recycled and biodegradable. We're here because we love to hike and camp. We don't pollute. That's what we're trying to work on. That's a homegrown company."
FALA Technologies office and production facility is located at 430 Old Neighborhood Road in Kingston. For more information, call (845) 336-4000 or look on the Web at ww.falatech.com.