Posted by Lisa Strawbridge - email
BOWLING GREEN (WTOL) - Many industrial businesses in northwest Ohio are cutting production, but one in Bowling Green is staying steady and even planning for growth.
Sewing and cinching -- if only fixing the economy were that easy.
At this chair manufacturing plant, staving off a recession is a daily challenge. "We sell a lot of our products in industries like Ford Motor Company, GM. They sit on our chairs to do our work. We're real big into ergonomics in the workplace," said Ed Metzger, President of BioFit.
The workplace Biofit supplies is shrinking. The auto industry is seeing drastic declines. Likewise, furniture manufacturing is expected to contract 19.3% this year.
So how does Biofit avoid it?
"We've developed a 10-year strategy, and we have a plan to go after that. Part of what that is is developing new products for where we believe the money's gonna be -- healthcare, laboratories, places of that nature," Metzger told News 11.
Companies in those fields need what are called "clean chairs" for ultra-pure environments. That means when you sit on them, they don't put particles into the air.
Biofit has become one of only a few companies around the world to manufacture them. "So far, we've declined about 5.9%, so we're way ahead of the average."
Metzger tells us, "You hate to say that negative growth is positive, because it's really not. But we're doing things to keep those big orders coming in: stay effective and stay profitable, which is obviously important as well."
