Oxford First Selectman George R. Temple led a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday at a new company that is taking advantage of the new Airport Development Zone.
Autonomy Technology Inc. or ATI – officially opened at 353 Christian St. right next to the airport. The building is owned by brothers Dave and Mark Sippin of Monroe.
The companies three executive, Greg Knowles, Mike Scala and Riley Wilson attended the ceremony along with employees. Sen. Rob Kane and Bob Bruno of the Connecticut Airport Authority also attended, as ATI is the first company to receive incentives from Gov. Dannel Malloy’s ADZ mandate made on August 12, 2013.
The new zone was created as part of a jobs legislation led by state Sen. Kane R-Watertown and Rep. David Labriola R-Oxford. Kane said he was pleased to welcome the new company to town.
Scala, company president, said they moved the company here from Oregon and many employees relocated here when the company moved. He said they are utilizing 111,000 square feet of space in the building and expect to employ some 25 to 30 employees in the future.
The company are distributors of electrical components and have facilities in Las Vegas, Anchorage.
First Selectman Temple welcomed them to town and said he is extremely happy the company chose Oxford to move to and was impressed with the operations after touring the facility.
Autonomy Technology, Inc. (“ATI”) General: ATI was incorporated in Texas in 2004 by Greg Knowles. With a simple concept of how to run a sales organization, Greg has kept ATI profitable every year since it’s inception. Early on ATI opened a facility in Las Vegas because of its proximity to major transport routes and the ease with which to ship product. Now, with a desire to bring the same level of customer service to customers on the East coast, ATI has opened its Connecticut facility.
Product Lines:The current product lines in the medium voltage and higher voltage arenas include;· Switchgear· Large gauge cable· Associated connectors to terminate large gauge cable sold as a distributed item· Cable assemblies of the above· Generator connection boxes/Tap boxes (permanently installed infrastructure)
Market Segments:· Mining· Utility· MRO (maintenance, repair, operations)· New Construction· Retro-fit construction· Oil and Gas
Product Use:As a value added distributor, ATI sells specialty components, cable, and switchgear, which are used in permanent, semi-permanent, and/or portable applications. The products typically step down utility level power to the point where industrial equipment can be properly powered for use. ATI has exclusive agreements with manufacturers to sell, distribute, and service their products. ATI also offers value added engineering and project management services that include layout, modification, installation, and service for the equipment offered. In addition to the above exclusivity, and value added services, ATI’s service levels meet or exceed industry norms. This is accomplished through geographic positioning of branches. ATI currently has 30 employees nation-wide with nine in the CT facility.
Geographic Locations and Operations:Las Vegas- Sales, distribution and manufacturing center with approximately 20,000sf of offices and warehousing. Currently, the majority of ATI employees are working out of this facility (approximately 13 out of 28). Bend (Oregon)- The CEO and most of the financial staff work out of the Bend office. The location is all office space (roughly 1500sf). One salesperson works from his home in a town just outside of Bend. Anchorage- This is a mixed use facility but most of it is office. We currently have two people working there and a salesperson who works out of her home. Oxford, CT- This facility (located at 353 Christian Street) is 10,000sf with roughly 80% of that being warehouse/manufacturing. We will have six employees working out of that facility when we open on April 1 and another salesperson working from his home in NY State. In addition to these facilities, we have two salespeople who work out of their homes- one in Texas and one in Colorado.
Key Customers:Key customers reside in the mining, and retro-fit and construction segments. The Mining industry accounts for 50% of revenue across all product lines. Retro-fit and new construction account for 30% of revenues and all other segments account for the remaining 20%.
Channels to Market:· Direct sales efforts· Web based sales w/ online service
Organic growth potential:Geographic expansion in the northeast (CT) and South Central (TX) regions will pull in the existing product lines that fall under exclusive distributor agreements regionally coupled with the value-added services pertaining to engineering and project management. These will be focused in the mining, industrial MRO, and construction segments. Additional growth will stem from broadened product lines within these core segments such as; Generator connection boxes/Tap boxes (permanently installed infrastructure), motor control drives, and automation.
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