David Biddle remembers how his uncle would hand out silver dollars to his employees at Biddle Precision Components as an incentive for them to quit smoking.

Rather than lay off workers when business was slow, his uncle, the late Kenneth Biddle, would have employees paint fence posts at his farm or pick up trash at a local park, just to give them some work.

Kenneth Biddle was a boss with a heart, but he was tough, said David Biddle, 60. He would ride his bicycle through his machine shop, keeping a watchful eye on employees, "making sure they were doing their jobs. . . . Kenny expected a day's work out of you."

Other family members think if the family patriarch were still living today he might be a little disappointed yet also happy to learn that the company he founded 70 years ago has been sold.

"I think he would be sad to have to let go of his pride and joy, but at the same time be happy that it stayed in business in his hometown community," said Brian Myers, 40, the company president and great-grandson of Kenneth Biddle and the only other Biddle descendant left at the company of 20 family members who formerly worked there.

EMC Precision Machining, based in Elyria, Ohio, purchased Biddle on March 24. Biddle, with 100 employees, is Sheridan's largest employer.

"The down economy really put the toll on us. We lost a real heavy volume of jobs last year," said Myers, who is a co-owner.

"It was tough to think about selling the family business," but that's the only way that the shop could stay on its feet.

"Financially, it was the right thing to do."

EMC said all of the current employees would remain. Founded in 1925, EMC is also a fourth-generation, family-owned company, and in the same business. It's a smaller company, with 44 employees, but with the acquisition will double its sales.

President Barack Obama visited EMC and commended the company for its efficiency during a Jan. 22 visit to Lorain County, Ohio.

The merger broadens EMC's customer base, expands its capabilities and makes both companies stronger suppliers, said industry experts.

"The Biddle acquisition gives (EMC) capabilities they did not have, and it gives Biddle access to capabilities they did not have," said Miles Free, director of industry, research and technology for Precision Machine Products Association, a trade association of which both companies are members.

"Both of these companies have very savvy managers, and I think they realize that what they have working together would give them far more than working by themselves," Free said. Free sees acquisitions like this happening across the nation.

Although sales for precision machine shops in May 2009 were only 65 percent of what they were during the same time in 2000, Free said sales are slowly rising. The collaboration of companies is part of the strategy to diversify, a trend in the industry since the slump in the automotive industry, said Randy Kish, marketing manager for Precision Metalforming Association, a trade association in Independence, Ohio.

"There couldn't be a better time," said Brad Ohlemacher, 47, EMC's president, whose brother, Jeff Ohlemacher, 52, is CEO. Their great-grandfather William F. Ohlemacher and their grandfather Burton Ohlemacher started the company in 1925 with $10,000.

"We've been very fortunate," said Brad Ohlemacher. "Just as things would have it, we happened to be in a different financial situation. We were able to weather the storm of the economy and are coming out of it in a much better position."

Tags:

Original Hyperlink: http://www.ctemag.com/industry.news.php..

For more information from this magazine/website? Please click here http://www.ctemag.com

About Us: Cutting Tool Engineer’s tightly controlled circulation consists of manufacturing professionals who cut and grind metal and other materials. We draw subscribers primarily from the ranks of corporate, production and engineering management—the individuals who specify products and services for their companies. They look to CTE for pertinent, timely features and columns about the processes they perform. This explains why 73% of subscribers page through CTE from front to back and 100% read some portion of the magazine.

Note: The copyright and the ownship of the brand, product names, product numbers, and content mentioned belongs to their repective companies.