Made to Order
CLINTON TWP — A company in Victory Road Business Park creates products ranging from the ordinary to those that save lives.
Cygnus Manufacturing Co. is a contract manufacturer, which means it creates components for companies that do not make the parts for themselves. It does so through precision machining, precision welding and finished-product assembly.
Jodi Ricketts, CMC vice president of sales and marketing, said an example of components made by the company are injector heads for angiogram machines.
The injector heads attach to the tube that is fed into a patient's femoral artery during an angiogram, where doctors inject dye into the arteries surrounding the heart to check for and treat dangerous blockages.
“We've been making some form of them since the 1960s,” Ricketts said.
She said while the medical device market provides significant and steady work for CMC, widely varying companies request components of all sizes.
“We've manufactured everything from a 15-foot cabinet for a transportation application to parts that could fit on the tip of my finger,” said Ricketts, who has worked at CMC for 16 years.
She said about 50 companies per year hire CMC to manufacture components at CMC's expansive, 145,000-square-foot facility off Victory Road. She said 70 percent of CMC's business is from return customers, and 30 percent from companies looking to build a prototype.
“We focus on manufacturing so our customers can focus on development and design,” Ricketts said.
She said CMC has produced components for MSA, Westinghouse Nuclear, Bayer, Fuji and Mitsubishi, among many others.
In addition to medical components, Ricketts said CMC has built items for the aerospace and defense, energy and robotics industries, among others.
One product of which Ricketts is particularly proud is a high-tech device that soldiers wear to detect where gunshots are coming from.She said components for companies that make artificial hearts and blood-movement therapy systems are other rewarding projects that CMC has engaged in.“It's never boring,” Ricketts said of her job.Because of its diverse customer base, CMC is normally not affected by downtrends in a particular sector of the economy.The company's home is unique because a spine of office space is suspended over the huge shop floor.More than 100 employees custom machine, weld, assemble, laser cut, punch, stamp, powder coat and ship components in various departments on the clean, open shop floor.A walkway is suspended above, so clients or management can oversee operations.“I love this building,” said CMC President and CEO John Maholtz, who just signed on with the company in February after years as a customer in the medical device industry.“The layout is unique. You get an aerial perspective,” he said.Maholtz said those who work in the shop are engaged in the company and their jobs, as well as valued by management. He said math, technological, and problem-solving skills are required on the manufacturing floor.“The shop floor is full of ideas,” Maholtz said. “They are seriously invested in seeing the company do well, and that's very refreshing.”Ricketts said CMC employees work all three shifts on the floor, where both men and women can be seen from one end to the other.“This isn't typically an industry for women,” Ricketts said, “but we're trying to buck the trend.”She said many young mothers work part time as machinists, assembly technicians, or in other positions while their children are in school.Ricketts said to garner top employees, CMC teams up with Pittsburgh trade schools such as A.W. Beattie Career Center, Pittsburgh Technical Institute and Triangle Tech.“When they have good candidates, they will reach out to us,” Ricketts said.CMC also provides apprenticeships or will train employees in certain jobs from the ground up.Maholtz said the work force at CMC is a capable and valuable one.“They really have to have a high intellect,” Maholtz said of those on the floor.Ricketts said CMC's goal is to double its operation within the next five years.“We've got 20 acres, so there's room to grow,” she said.
<b>Address</b>: 491 Chantler Drive, Saxonburg<b>President/CEO</b>: John Maholtz<b>Employees</b>: 126<b>Website</b>: www.cygnusmfg.com<b>What it makes</b>: Manufactures and assembles components for other companies<b>Quote</b>: “We focus on manufacturing so our customers can focus on development and design.”Jodi Ricketts, vice president of sales and marketing
