are taking it to the globalmarkets.”
These days, Optimax’s operation is housed
within a 60,000-square-foot building, whose
recent expans ion both doubled the
company ’s manufacturing space and
necessitated a jump in staff that took it from
140 employees to more than 200. The
workforce had initially reached triple digits
near the start of the 21st century and then
rose slowly and steadily over the subsequent
13 years before the decision was made in
2013, Plympton said, “to double-down and
really go after growing the business again.”
Optimax’s customer list prompts a mix that
covers a wide variety of applications,
including consumer products to medical
devices to military/homeland security
functions and semiconductor applications –
where photonic technology is needed to
make the super-tiny electronic devices that
contribute to smaller and smaller mobile
phones andother devices.
“We’re dedicated to small volume, high
quality and quick delivery,” Plympton said.
“From the beginning, we felt that there was a
market need and that this was a defensible
niche. Making the prototype optics and
providing on-time delivery with very high
quality product, always ensuring that what
we produc e me e t s the cus tomer ’s
requirements, so they can be successful with
184 | BusinessWorld |
May 2014
