Success Stories
Custom Finisher
Arizona
This company was a custom finisher of computer
and consumer electronic components with capabilities
that included decorative printing, painting, EMI/RFI
shielding, and die cutting. Having all these
capabilities under one roof enable the company to be
the only "one-stop" finisher in its market. Its
products were sold primarily to large Arizona based
OEM customers.
The company faced increasing competition from
low cost manufacturers located in the Western
Pacific Rim. These competitive pressures resulted in
a 17% decrease in employment to 25 and a 71%
decrease in profitability over the two years before
certification in the TAA Program. The company, with
assistance from the University of Southern
California’s Western Trade Adjustment Assistance
Center (Western TAAC) became certified as trade
impacted by the US Dept. of Commerce, Economic
Development Administration (EDA).
Western TAAC and the company’s management developed
a strategy focused on expanding its geographic
market outside of Arizona focusing on the consumer
electronic OEMs. In order to counter their
decreasing market trend, the firm intended to
exploit the increasing trend of shifting consumer
electronic manufacturing from the Pacific Rim to
Mexico, commonly referred to as Maquiladora
operations.
The company began participation in the Post Approval
phase of the TAA program. Over a 15 month period,
Western TAAC and the company’s management implement
one marketing project to assist management in
developing and implementing a marketing and sales
approach to the Pacific Rim based consumer
electronic OEMs, their respective manufacturing
operations located in Mexico along the United States
border, and their respective supporting design and
engineering firms located in the United States.
Three years after program completion, the results
are remarkable. This project along with other
strategy implementation led to outstanding growth
and stability for the firm. As a result, in the 4
1/2 years since the firm began working with the
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms program,
sales increased 416% to $7.5M, employment increased
700% to 200, and profitability increased more than
twenty times.
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