Sullivan, Basinet, Bongo (SBB) Inc. designs, engineers, manufacturers, and installs components for controlled environments. SBB’s products are used in a variety of markets that require “clean rooms” or where environmental controls are critical, such as pharmaceutical, biosciences, optics, and semiconductor manufacturing industries.
Although SBB has existed in the Syracuse region since the 1980’s, the company has capitalized on several opportunities in recent years, including the growth of the NY nanotech sector, and is currently in growth mode itself. In order to improve quality, speed of product delivery to clients, and cost efficiencies, SBB has been transitioning their operations to incorporate more steps of their highly technical and custom production process in house. To that end, SBB acquired a struggling Syracuse-based sheet metal company, formed a partnership with a German company to co-market complete clean room packages to the North American pharmaceutical market, and relocated into new, larger space near a company that plays a key role in their supply chain.
Last year SBB approached WDI with a request for assistance in two areas that management determined were critical to maintain the company’s growth trajectory. The first project was the delivery of an OSHA training program to all employees. Although SBB was fortunate to have attracted and retained employees with solid skills from various trades and industries, the varied backgrounds meant that they all brought different perspectives and knowledge on safety to the table. A WDI-funded OSHA training program resulted in both uniform safety knowledge/practices among employees, but also meant SBB had more employees that could do field work for some of their larger clients that require this OSHA certification. A second project saw WDI supporting SBB on the purchase of an automated chop saw. The new saw allows SBB to process the construction of their patented clean room grid to customized specifications in house, rather than outsourcing the work to subcontractors in other states.
According to Brandon Bogart, General Manager of SBB, the WDI support helped the company expand sales significantly, bring work in house, reduce costs by roughly 50%, and directly resulted in five (5) new production hires. The company’s size now stands at 27 employees, up from 11 just two years ago. Mr. Bogart also notes that the business support provided by WDI was easy to access, efficient, and timely in terms of allowing the company to pursue its’ plans on schedule.
