- March 28, 2024
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LeNoir “Len” Zaiser doesn't mince words about why he had to sell his last company, Naples-based Structure Medical, during the economic downturn in 2010.
Zaiser says finance companies that used to fund equipment purchases disappeared from the financial markets during the recession. Even Structure, whose sales rose 110% in 2009, couldn't get banks to fund the growth in the booming orthopedic-implant manufacturing business during the financial crisis.
Capital is the lifeblood of any manufacturer because of the costly but necessary equipment. “Capital continues to be a constraint for all companies,” says Zaiser. “It's still a difficult process.”
But two years ago, Zaiser and his son, Len Zaiser IV, started putting together a business plan for a new company, Azimuth Technology. Azimuth manufactures precision parts for weapons such as the M-4 rifle used by military, law enforcement and gun enthusiasts.
Before the financial crisis, there were at least 50 equipment-leasing companies such as General Electric and Litton that financed smaller U.S. manufacturers. “That's the way I started my first two businesses,” says the elder Zaiser, who manufactured fighter-jet Sidewinder missile parts in Naples in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Zaisers took the undisclosed proceeds from the sale of Structure Medical and reinvested them in Azimuth, financing a part of their business with loans from community banks CNL and Encore. “We personally financed it and we've used local institutions,” says the younger Zaiser, a former banker.
Len Zaiser says equipment-leasing companies haven't returned to the market. “I don't see them coming back” he says.
The large national banks haven't returned, either. “We've not been successful with the big banks,” notes the younger Zaiser, in part because they're not keen on funding startups regardless how skilled the management.
But Florida community banks are filling the void locally because they've had to diversify their loan portfolios away from traditionally high concentrations in real estate and into commercial and industrial loans for companies such as Azimuth.
The Zaisers decline to reveal financial details of their operations, but they've invested in more than 50 manufacturing machines that cost from $125,000 to $300,000 each. This gives them an edge over the competition because the efficiency of new machines grows 20% every five years. “Companies are using very old technology, so it was a very inefficient market,” says Len Zaiser IV.
Azimuth currently occupies 22,000 square feet in a facility near Collier Boulevard and Alligator Alley, where 75 employees work two shifts to produce weapons parts. The company plans to expand into another 24,000 square feet of space next door as it expects to win a five-year contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Finding skilled labor hasn't been a problem for Azimuth, which has made key employees minority owners in the business. “In reality there's a lot of skilled people down here,” Zaiser says, noting that many workers have moved to the area from the Midwest.
Zaiser says the company hires young people from local vocational schools and universities such as Florida Gulf Coast University. “A lot of these people have been trained in house,” he says.