- May 28, 2026
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A manufacturer with a presence in Manatee County has doubled its footprint there as it looks to meet the growing demand for its products. Niche Electronics, which makes circuit board assemblies, celebrated the opening of its expanded facility Wednesday at 1905 72nd Drive E., northeast of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
“This kind of growth doesn’t happen overnight,” Niche Electronics CEO Frank Bowman said at the ribbon cutting for the expansion of its facility, which now totals more than 20,000 square feet.
The growth is a doubling. When Niche Electronics first moved in seven years ago, the company occupied about 10,000 square feet of warehouse space.
“We took over the adjoining space and used it as a catalyst to grow,” Bowman said. “What we really did is reimagine the entire facility…This was deliberate, ground-up thinking” that took into account how the space was going to be used and how to create a positive environment for employees.
Niche Electronics invested in new, cutting-edge equipment, including a precision laser etcher that can put content like bar codes or logos onto products, and an automated optical inspection system that can examine assemblies on a microscopic scale to ensure accuracy.
The company produces 20,000 circuit boards every month out of its Manatee County location, Bowman said.
“We've invested highly, not only in the building, but in our equipment as well,” Bowman said. “With miniaturization and complexity of circuits that have crept into this market through cell phones and every other small little device, you no longer can put these components down with tweezers or have a human being do most of the work. It has to be automated, so we have the best equipment to make sure that we're performing those functions all right.”
The Manatee facility is operated by 24 staff, a number that is expected to grow as demand increases, particularly from the aerospace, medical and defense industries, Bowman said. In total, Niche Electronics has 110 employees.
In addition to new equipment, the expansion included new break rooms, a new HVAC system and a caged area to protect materials.
“Growth takes intention, care and willingness to invest in something before you can fully see it,” Bowman said. “That's what we've done here, and we're just getting started.”
Niche Electronics has two other manufacturing facilities — in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and Bedford, Massachusetts. The Pennsylvania facility has 20,000 square feet, while the Massachusetts location totals 11,000 square feet. Both are currently out of space, according to Bowman.
"This was the next best thing — to add 10,000 square feet quickly — so that we can start moving work from those other locations down here,” Bowman said. “We're going to continue to grow, and I hope to be … worried about space here in another year or so.”
Niche Electronics is a portfolio company of private investment firm Summit Equity Group, which is based in Iowa. Through an LLC, Summit Equity Group purchased the nearly 1.5-acre industrial site where Niche Electronics is located in Manatee County for $1.4 million in 2019, according to property records.
