Rapid prototyper and molder Dynacept Corp. has become a nimbler company now that its original family owners have bought back the business.
Mark and Mike Primavera reclaimed ownership of the 33-year-old firm from Foxconn Electronics Inc. in an Oct. 4 management buyout.
``We ran this company under three different owners, over an eight-year period, and it became clear to us that in order to remain a leader in the industry we would have to run autonomously,'' Dynacept President Mark Primavera said in a news release.
Vice President Mike Primavera said in a telephone interview that Foxconn, a $35 billion electronics assembler based in Tu-cheng, Taiwan, was not allocating the resources Dynacept needed to stay on top of its competition. Acquired by Foxconn in 2003 as part of a two-company deal, Dynacept was not a good fit with the world's biggest contract manufacturer, Mike Primavera said.
Dynacept now boasts 10 stereolithography prototype machines, which it claims is the most under one roof in the eastern United States. Equipment includes six high-resolution Viper Si2 models and a Viper Pro machine, all supplied by 3D Systems Corp. of Valencia, Calif. As well, the 30,000-square-foot Brewster, N.Y., operation has a tool shop, injection molding room and a clean room tent for molding.
``We have always had the best equipment,'' said Mike Primavera. ``We believe in reinvesting in the business.''
Mike Primavera said Dynacept's fastest-growing market is medical, largely because East Coast medical companies like to have a prototyper and tool builder close to their operations rather than develop new products with companies in Asia. Dynacept also does a lot of work with hand-held telecommunications products such as cellular phones.
Dynacept built 200 molds last year and created 9,000 stereolithography models per month, Mike Primavera said. It operates nine injection presses, three of which are electric, with clamping forces of 25-165 tons. With a range of model-building systems, including low-technology methods, the company can make prototypes and molds quickly and do limited molding runs, saving customers time vs. working with two or three separate companies, he said.
Mike and Mark Primavera first ran Dynacept in 1988 after the death of their father, who founded the business in 1973. In 1998, Dynacept merged with molder Triple S Plastics Inc. Dynacept and Triple S were bought by Eimo Group of Lahti, Finland, in 2001, and all were swallowed up by Foxconn in 2003. The Primaveras bought back the Dynacept business, but Triple S of Vicksburg, Mich., remains part of Foxconn.
``We like the idea of being a family-owned, American company, whose goal is to create jobs - currently 54 professionals and growing - here in the U.S.,'' Mark Primavera said.