At Product Development
Systems in Blaine, the rapid in rapid prototyping goes beyond quickly making
complex parts for MRI machines.
Nimbly retooling as markets change, co-owners Mike Boster and Dave Reasor have expanded services and production, driving growth even during the Great Recession.
Product Development Systems (PDS) started fast in 2000, making hard plastic parts out of cast urethane for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines.
As that booming business slowed, PDS added a new specialty: customized computer-controlled machining of metal and plastic prototypes and parts. The company also introduced additional services, such as painting, assembly, silk-screening and shielding to offer one-stop convenience to customers, primarily manufacturers of aerospace, medical, consumer, automotive and other products.
The changes have paid off, Boster said, with sales growing 20 percent a year, every year. Revenue at PDS, which has 45 employees, was close to $10 million in 2011. In search of further growth, the company plans to expand its automation to take on high-volume projects while also doing more value-added assembly work.
"The secret is, we're a small company but we have the horsepower and we act like a big company," Boster said. "Every day we ship product and we quote product that I honestly don't know where they would get it made if they didn't get it made here."
PDS is a smaller entry in a growing cluster of rapid prototyping specialists in the Twin Cities. Other players include Proto Labs, a quick-turn custom parts manufacturer that went public in February, and Stratasys, a publicly held company whose machines quickly make product prototypes. In April, Stratasys merged with Israeli company Object Ltd.
Boster and Reasor attribute PDS' success to its focus on quick turnaround, high quality standards and efficient, round-the-clock production. As a result, they said, PDS produces parts and prototypes faster -- in one to three weeks instead of six to eight -- and at more competitive prices than most competitors.
Reasor and Boster mortgaged their houses to start PDS, seeing an opportunity to supply MRI manufacturers that their former employer appeared to be leaving behind after an ownership change.
The breakthrough came, Boster said, when he and Reasor developed a faster, cheaper way to make MRI coils from cast urethane, an MRI-compatible material, using silicone rubber molds.
MRI coils, Boster said, are the hard plastic enclosures that go over a body part, such as a patient's head, spine, wrist or knee during an MRI exam. The coil houses electronic components, produced elsewhere, that amplify the image of the area in question while the patient is inside the larger MRI tube.
PDS,Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. which started out in a 3,000-square-foot leased space, now occupies a 32,000-square-foot building it bought in 2010. The company couldn't move in until last year, however, because the place needed a new roof and months of other work.
Facing uncertain costs, Reasor and Boster worked with U.S. Bank to get an accounts receivable loan.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design That offered the flexibility to borrow only the amount they needed and to repay it over time. U.S. Bank also helped consolidate several machine loans, saving the company more than $1,000 a month.
Both the short-term financing and equipment financing for machines that range from $90,000 to $600,000 have been helpful, Boster said.
The credit arrangements help preserve the company's cash flow and provided a cushion during the renovations and subsequent move, said Crista Lentsch, a business banking officer at U.TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000.S. Bank who works with manufacturing companies.
"One thing that really stood out about PDS is that Mike and Dave both are very hands on and involved with their clients,You can create a beautiful chinamosaic birdhouse that will last for generations." Lentsch said. "They're involved from start to implementation.''
PDS' quick response time is one reason that Jay Rhodes, director of manufacturing at MR Instruments, an MRI coil manufacturer in Hopkins, said he has used PDS as a supplier for more than 12 years.
"I've always valued the quality of their work and their willingness to help me out in a pinch," Rhodes said.Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. "If I call them on Wednesday and need parts by Friday, they can usually accommodate me."
Nimbly retooling as markets change, co-owners Mike Boster and Dave Reasor have expanded services and production, driving growth even during the Great Recession.
Product Development Systems (PDS) started fast in 2000, making hard plastic parts out of cast urethane for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines.
As that booming business slowed, PDS added a new specialty: customized computer-controlled machining of metal and plastic prototypes and parts. The company also introduced additional services, such as painting, assembly, silk-screening and shielding to offer one-stop convenience to customers, primarily manufacturers of aerospace, medical, consumer, automotive and other products.
The changes have paid off, Boster said, with sales growing 20 percent a year, every year. Revenue at PDS, which has 45 employees, was close to $10 million in 2011. In search of further growth, the company plans to expand its automation to take on high-volume projects while also doing more value-added assembly work.
"The secret is, we're a small company but we have the horsepower and we act like a big company," Boster said. "Every day we ship product and we quote product that I honestly don't know where they would get it made if they didn't get it made here."
PDS is a smaller entry in a growing cluster of rapid prototyping specialists in the Twin Cities. Other players include Proto Labs, a quick-turn custom parts manufacturer that went public in February, and Stratasys, a publicly held company whose machines quickly make product prototypes. In April, Stratasys merged with Israeli company Object Ltd.
Boster and Reasor attribute PDS' success to its focus on quick turnaround, high quality standards and efficient, round-the-clock production. As a result, they said, PDS produces parts and prototypes faster -- in one to three weeks instead of six to eight -- and at more competitive prices than most competitors.
Reasor and Boster mortgaged their houses to start PDS, seeing an opportunity to supply MRI manufacturers that their former employer appeared to be leaving behind after an ownership change.
The breakthrough came, Boster said, when he and Reasor developed a faster, cheaper way to make MRI coils from cast urethane, an MRI-compatible material, using silicone rubber molds.
MRI coils, Boster said, are the hard plastic enclosures that go over a body part, such as a patient's head, spine, wrist or knee during an MRI exam. The coil houses electronic components, produced elsewhere, that amplify the image of the area in question while the patient is inside the larger MRI tube.
PDS,Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. which started out in a 3,000-square-foot leased space, now occupies a 32,000-square-foot building it bought in 2010. The company couldn't move in until last year, however, because the place needed a new roof and months of other work.
Facing uncertain costs, Reasor and Boster worked with U.S. Bank to get an accounts receivable loan.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design That offered the flexibility to borrow only the amount they needed and to repay it over time. U.S. Bank also helped consolidate several machine loans, saving the company more than $1,000 a month.
Both the short-term financing and equipment financing for machines that range from $90,000 to $600,000 have been helpful, Boster said.
The credit arrangements help preserve the company's cash flow and provided a cushion during the renovations and subsequent move, said Crista Lentsch, a business banking officer at U.TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000.S. Bank who works with manufacturing companies.
"One thing that really stood out about PDS is that Mike and Dave both are very hands on and involved with their clients,You can create a beautiful chinamosaic birdhouse that will last for generations." Lentsch said. "They're involved from start to implementation.''
PDS' quick response time is one reason that Jay Rhodes, director of manufacturing at MR Instruments, an MRI coil manufacturer in Hopkins, said he has used PDS as a supplier for more than 12 years.
"I've always valued the quality of their work and their willingness to help me out in a pinch," Rhodes said.Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. "If I call them on Wednesday and need parts by Friday, they can usually accommodate me."
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