Light
maker Jon Cooper has a problem with Chinese imports — not the
imports themselves, but the mindset that domestic manufacturers can’t
compete against them. He supplies manufacturers; he wants his customer
base to stick around.
Cooper
holds out his Lighting Components and Design in Deerfield Beach as
proof that
with good service, innovation and reinvestment in robotics
and automation, imports can be licked. His company makes little lights
for vacuum cleaners and slot machines. Half of his revenue comes from
the automotive industry — map and visor lights and such. His
products are in Dirt Devils, Fords and Harleys.
A New Jersey native, Cooper was a salesman for a New York lighting
company when it went bankrupt. He believed he could make a go of it,
purchased the assets and asked himself, “Where do I want to raise
my family and my company?”
Answer: Florida.
He finished his first year in 1994 with $2 million in sales and 20
employees. This year, he has $20 million in sales and 250 employees.
Ten percent of the total came from sales to China.
His company
stands out in a mature industry for technology, on-time delivery
and quality
designations. It won regional Manufacturer of
the Year honors. Cooper, 40, uses his success to exhort other manufacturers.
He says that when jobs go offshore, the nation’s money goes with
it.
Manufacturers
that outsource overseas are “signing their death
warrant,” losing intellectual property through piracy and losing
customers. “The Chinese company is going to find your end customer
before you can say Jack Robinson,” he warns. He urges manufacturers
to reinvest to be competitive. It works, he says. “I’ve
not lost to China yet.”
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