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Small companies key to area’s growth

Niche products could bring innovation and entrepreneurship back to Dayton.

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By Tom Gnau, Doug Page and Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writers Updated 12:36 PM Sunday, June 7, 2009

Whether it is good strategy or painful necessity, big companies like General Motors and NCR are fading in the sight lines of local economic development officials.

Increasingly they’re focusing on small companies.

That makes sense to Shery Oakes, owner and president of Design Homes and Development Co.

“That’s the core of the future here,” Oakes said of smaller companies.

She and her husband, David, started her firm — with a civil engineering component focused on public sector work and a building component directed to private development — in the mid-1980s in a small office in Washington Twp. Today, they work in offices off Yankee Street covering 65,000 square feet.

“We’re positioning ourselves for when the economy does turn to take a bigger stake in Ohio, in Dayton,” Oakes said. “This is our home.”

Ibrahim Katampe feels that way too. He’s had several opportunities to move his Iya Technology Laboratories out of Kettering, but declined what he said were generous offers.

“I stay here because of the people,” Katampe said. “They are very supportive, friendly and eager to help.”

Iya produces inks that bond permanently with fabrics and papers for ink-jet and other kinds of printing. Its work has potential not only for clothing and domestic uses, but also for military applications — such as creating uniforms that have global positioning trackers transferred into the fabric, Katampe said.

A small company, Iya is able to quickly adapt to change. Multi-nationals such as NCR and GM don’t have that capacity, he believes.

“They are like elephants. It takes a lot to turn even a little angle,” he said with a laugh. “They are set in their ways.”

Smaller companies survive on their adaptability and innovation, Katampe said. He also touts something that doesn’t get a lot of mention: Dayton’s network of community and industry sources.

“Being able to have easy access to that network is important,” said the 44-year-old native of Nigeria. “People are not afraid to make a referral, and community officials always seem to know how to get you help.

“To have such a resource that supports adaptability is a blessing.”

That adaptability is bringing with it growth. Iya is readying to move its manufacturing component from a Dorothy Lane facility to a 40,000-square-foot Mound Advanced Technology Center facility in Miamisburg.

Cutbacks at big companies have also swung some work to the smaller shops. David Curliss, co-owner of Moraine’s Performance Polymer Solutions, said larger firms that no longer do technology development internally are turning increasingly to companies like his.

PPS has only 12 permanent employees. Yet the company researches and makes composite materials and adhesives that can withstand high temperatures — perfect for aviation and military uses — for companies such as General Electric and Boeing.

“We provide technical expertise and consulting for a lot of these companies that are basically outsourcing technology,” Curliss said.

And that’s fine for Curliss and his partner, Jason Lincoln.

“Frankly, the truth is, our costs are lower too,” Curliss said.

Having more companies with fewer employees leaves the region less vulnerable to moves by big firms, local officials say. And despite the sour economy, many of these companies are growing.

Scott Sullivan, president of SelectTech Services Corp. in Washington Twp., has more than 100 employees providing engineering and information technology expertise at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The company’s Springfield-area manufacturing site is ramping up as well.

Sullivan’s firm works for the Air Force, and he often hears Department of Defense acquisition specialists asking if they want to partner with large companies that may force slower acquisition schedules than smaller, more nimble firms. Sullivan contends his firm is more flexible and less reliant on subcontractors.

“We’re seeing the times change because we are starting to demonstrate that we can do that work,” Sullivan said.

Still, small companies must prove they can deliver the goods. “It’s up to us to demonstrate that,” Sullivan said.

“Smaller companies are indeed the economic engine for growth,” said David Swenson, vice president of business initiatives for Kettering’s Edison Materials Technology Center, which helps smaller, materials-oriented firms bring ideas to market.

Still, Swenson cautions that he doesn’t think it’s necessary to pit small firms against big firms in economic development schemes. Large companies, after all, need smaller suppliers. Those suppliers need healthy, larger companies.

Pursuing only smaller firms can be dangerous, he warned.

“Be careful what you incentivize because that’s likely what you are going to get,” Swenson said.

Swenson has worked for large, multi-nationals, including Rohm, which moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina and Italy in the late 1990s.

When weighing a move, big firms gauge work force cost, availability and skills, he said. They look at the cost of doing business in a new locale, as well as the regulatory and permitting environment. And they examine a region’s social and cultural amenities, he noted.

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