Formaspace News - June 26th, 2009
June 26, 2009
Formaspace Needs More Space
June 26, 2009 - A Hutto-based manufacturer needs more space soon to accommodate a larger staff and new machinery.
Formaspace Technical Furniture, makers of industrial workbenches, worktables and laboratory furniture, needs to move out of its 30,000-square-foot building into industrial space that ranges from 55,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet, Formaspace CEO Jeff Turk said.
While the second half of 2008 threw a kink in the company's projected growth as business spending on capital improvement plummeted, Turk said Formaspace eked out a record year and is hoping to build on that growth this year.
In July 2008, the company's export sales - mostly to Asia - skyrocketed, leading Turk to predict that 2008's revenue would total about $10 million, up from $7.2 million in 2007. When the economy waned in late 2008, spending overall went down, and Formaspace ended the year with $7.4 million in revenues - still a record.
Exports to Asia have slowed as the dollar has strengthened, Turk said, because it no longer offsets shipping costs.
Karen Parker, director of the Austin Export Assistance Center, said many companies that had started increasing their presence in international markets have pulled back during the last year because the economic slowdown has spread worldwide.
This year the government has been a significant source of business for the company, Turk said; Formaspace just completed a large contract with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Turk said the company is also beginning to field inquiries and requests from nongovernmental groups, which could signal confidence that the economy is near a turning point.
Formaspace is planning to grow its staff of 42 to about 70 once the company moves to a larger space, which Turk hopes will happen by next summer. The company's current lease expires in June 2010. At the same time, Formaspace is investing in new machinery and new manufacturing methods in an effort to shorten delivery times from a one-to-10-day window to a one-to-three-day shipping time.
Turk hopes to stay relatively near the company's current Hutto home to stay close to Formaspace employees' homes, and is open to looking at buildings in Hutto, Pflugerville, Round Rock and North Austin.
David Barber, an industrial broker with NAI Austin, said Formaspace can expect to pay 15 percent to 20 percent less in rent than it would have paid a year ago.
The submarkets the company is most interested in all have vacancy rates of more than 20 percent, Barber said, and the company can expect increased concessions from landlords. In Pflugerville, the Verde Springbrook Corporate Center accommodates industrial tenants, and in Round Rock the new Raceway Crossing project is also geared toward industrial users.
Overall, Barber said the Austin-area industrial market can expect substantial negative absorption for the first half of 2009, once research data comes out.
Courtesy of the Austin Business Journal Vol. 29 Number 16
Written by Kate Harrington, ABJ Staff
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/06/29/story1.html
Formaspace advances the spirit of discovery and creation through the design and manufacture of custom technical furniture, accessories, and services. We develop elegant, practical, flexible solutions for customers in laboratory, technical, drafting, material handling, and industrial environments. Formaspace workbenches, computer workstations, and laboratory tables are designed to meet GSA, industrial, tech, commercial, laboratory, clean room, computer lab, and other custom application requirements. We are happy to design your work benches around LEAN, ISO, 5-S requirements, ADA compliance, Six Sigma, and SEFA standards.
