Carmel company keeps low profile, flies high
With only 16 employees, the James A. Staley Company Inc. is likely one of the smaller manufacturers in the Hudson Valley.
The irony is that without them and other companies that specialize in designing and building aircraft test equipment, major aircraft manufacturers like Boeing would have a difficult time getting their planes off the ground.
Located in Carmel and founded in 1976, the James A. Staley Co. designs and assembles equipment to test specific components and instruments on aircraft, from small planes to huge jetliners.
James A. Staley, the company”™s founder and president, said that planes have become so complex that airlines and aircraft manufacturers are no longer able to construct all of the necessary testing equipment on their own.
“Years ago the airlines felt they had to do everything,” Staley said. “(Today) the planes are a lot more complicated. There”™s a lot more hardware in them. They are outsourcing a lot to smaller shops.”
With thousands of components that must be tested regularly and new aircraft models either in circulation already or expected to be released soon, Staley said that his company does work for clients around the globe.
“Our market really is all over the world ”“ Europe, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brazil.” The James A. Staley Company”™s clients include the U.S. Navy, aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Embraer, and the airlines themselves.
“Boeing for example ”“ you would think that Boeing wouldn”™t have time for doing business with small businesses,” but the truth is just the contrary, Staley said. “We”™ve always had a great rapport with them.”
Demand for companies such as Staley”™s is driven particularly by the release of new aircraft models, such as the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner that hit the runway earlier this year. However, he said that his business is far from removed from the down economy.
“Our business is far from recession-proof,” he said. For the company”™s 2010 fiscal year, which ended May 31 of this year, sales were down by 20 percent, and Staley said he expects similar numbers in FY2011.
“When the economy starts to go under, contractors feel the pinch real quick. (But) we don”™t feel the cutback right away,” he said, noting that his company generally experiences the delayed effects of any economic variation because orders for equipment are generally placed several months in advance to accommodate for the six to nine months that it takes to build most parts.
With contractors and manufacturers experiencing particularly acute effects of the economic slowdown, Staley said that the New York state government has largely neglected many of the concerns of business owners.
He said that while the Carolinas and Georgia are giving businesses tax breaks to set up shop in their states, the New York state government hasn”™t given businesses any tax relief. State government officials have been disillusioned when it comes to taxes, he said. “They just figured people would keep paying them.”
All the while, Staley said that he has observed a number of companies leaving the Hudson Valley for the friendlier business environment of the South.
“These other states ”“ these southern states ”“ are looking to draw people down there and New York has to get into that mode. If there”™s nobody around, there”™s not going to be those taxes paid.”
Staley, who worked for American Avitron in Port Chester selling aircraft parts prior to founding his company, said that he has roots in the area and wouldn”™t be moving his company anywhere at present, and added, “If I was 40 years old again, I”™d probably give it some thought.”
Staley said it is likely the aircraft industry will gain steam over the next year, adding that the company has already started to see an increase in requests for quotes on a part.
“Right now we”™re quoting a lot of jobs. I think things are starting to pick up a little. I think things are going to pick up by the end of this year. (By the) beginning of next year I think we”™ll have sales coming in.”
Nearly the entire assembly process for any given part is completed at the company”™s 17,000-square-foot facility in Carmel, with the exception of some computer programming and the manufacturing of certain machines, which Staley said are contracted out to other companies.
“We do outsource a little ”“ computer software writing and machining ”“ but that”™s about the only thing we outsource.”
The company was initially based in Port Chester, but moved to its present location in 1982. The facility that the James A. Staley Company now occupies was 7,200 square feet when the company first moved in, but was expanded twice to its current dimensions.