In the more than 50 years that Parks Optical has been turning out binoculars, telescopes and microscopes the company has never faced an economy like it has the past year. With shoppers cutting back on discretionary spending, the family-owned company’s entry-level products for the beginning astronomer or bird watcher just weren’t in demand. Then a letter arrived that caught the attention of owner Eddie Sweiss. The City of Simi Valley and the Economic Development Collaborative – Ventura County had an offer for Sweiss and other manufactures: access to capital, training and hiring assistance that would help get them through the recession. Sweiss would later meet with officials from the city and the collaborative and be put in contact with agencies that could help if Parks Optical needed to hire more workers. “It is early in the game to see how effective they have been,” Sweiss said. “But as far as their commitment to manufacturing in our area it is encouraging to see that they haven’t forgotten the U.S. manufacturer.” Partnership With a manufacturing base higher than the national average, the collaborative wasn’t about to leave those companies in the lurch. So it created the Manufacturing Outreach Program that is a partnership between the collaborative, municipal and county government, utility companies, and California Manufacturing Technology Consultants and funded by the Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County. The EDC-VC hosted a meeting in January at which about 25 businesses were represented to get word out on the services the program will provide. A second meeting is scheduled for May 13 in Ventura. With the help of consultants, hundreds of letters went out to manufacturers in Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. Other areas of Ventura County would later receive the letter telling the business owner that assistance with finances, international trade, energy efficiency and other services was available at little or no cost. “If through this program we can see growth in the manufacturing sector then we are doing a great job,” said Brian Gabler, assistant city manager and director of economic development for Simi Valley. Preserving jobs The county most of all wants to preserve jobs totaling about 32,700, or 14 percent of the private labor source, according to state and federal labor statistics. These manufacturing jobs have an average salary higher ($75,000) than that found in the county and when compared to the state average. Parks Optical at one time employed 65 workers but now has less than half of that as survival depended on making cuts. “If we have the proper support we can hire 150 to 200 more people,” Sweiss said. The outreach program is just what Dr. Kurt Tennyson needed. Tennyson owns dental implant and prosthetics maker Excel Laboratories which has faced its own loss of work and downsizing. He received the same letter as Sweiss, attended the January meeting and scheduled a follow-up consultation. “I needed a push and a big brother to give other ideas than what I had and to check our progress,” Tennyson said. The lab recently brought on another employee and at the top of Tennyson’s to-do list is a new website to bolster his online presence. He’s also drumming up business through renewed acquaintances with the dentists he’s done work for and meeting new dentists. The enthusiasm for the program expressed by Sweiss and Tennyson is not uncommon, said EDC-VC President and CEO Bruce Stenslie. More importantly, follow up visits to businesses reveals some evidence that manufacturing may lead the region into recovery. “The degree to which they are successful is their agility and ability to respond to new opportunities,” Stenslie said
New Program Assists Manufacturers in Ventura County
