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Omega Automation on its way back, looks to hire, CEO says

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer 11:03 PM Thursday, September 2, 2010

DAYTON — To thrive in this economy, businesses, lending institutions and government must work together, said Alan King, owner of Omega Automation Inc.

King speaks from experience. In the early 1980s, King founded Omega, one of only a few companies worldwide that made equipment to fold air bags. He then went on to weather the worst recession in decades. Today, if you have an anti-lock braking system on your vehicle, it may have been built on equipment Omega produced, King said.

Recent years have been brutal. Five years ago, Omega had three Dayton plants and about 120 local employees. Today, it has one plant and 28 employees.

“We went a long ways, and we came a long ways back,” King said at his Needmore Road machine shop Thursday, Sept. 2. “The manufacturing world basically came to a halt two years ago.”

Business is picking up, King added. Omega makes robotic and assembly equipment for suppliers to foreign automakers with U.S. operations, such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan, and the packaging and appliance industries. King said he has openings for two employees he would hire “tomorrow” if he could find the right people, and he intends to hire five to six more employees before 2011.

Showing his manufacturing floor to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Thursday, King praised legislation that would raise U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan guarantees from 75 percent to 90 percent. The guarantees would cover 90 percent of the difference between a company’s liquidated value and what a company owes if the business fails and is unable to repay a loan.

Kent Monnin, assistant vice president of the Farmers State Bank, said 15 percent may not seem like much, but it makes a “huge” difference to regional lenders who are trying to pick winners in today’s economy.

Contact this reporter  at (937) 225-2390 or  tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Omega Automation


Founded:	1984
Plant:	2850 Needmore Road
Products:	Automation tools, CNC machined components, manufacturing equipment
Employees:	28. Looking to hire more before 2011.