A2Z METALWORKER • 34 • July/Aug 2008

It’s Offi cial...Aerotech Manufacturing is Under New Ownership...By Its Long-Term Management Team

41 Year Old Company Owned by Canadian Public ToromontNow Owned by The Management Team

Aero Tech Manufacturing isn’t your typical precision sheet metal fabrication shop. They are a job shop, like many in Utah, but they also manufacture turnkey products of their own, such as hydronic radiant heating and cooling panels for the HVAC industry and a truck mounted carpet cleaning truck. In addition to Aero Tech’s own products they also provide turnkey equipment to the newspaper and commercial printing industry for the purpose of exposing and washing out the plates that are used in the printing process and most recently they have developed a solar powered mobile security camera that is capable of record-ing 6 months of data and can be monitored remotely from any job site using an internet or satellite connection. Their complete turnkey products required design, tooling, electri-cal, mechanical, and pneumatic assembly expertise, all of which resides in Aero Tech.

Aero Tech Manufacturing, based in North Salt Lake, Utah, operates in a 70,000 square foot building. Their customer base is diverse, ranging from Commercial, to Medical, to Printing, to Petrochemical, to municipal and industrial water fi ltration industries. They make parts from prototype to full production, and the size of their parts spans from very small (brackets), to products that weigh 25,000 pounds.

While Aero Tech makes some interesting turnkey prod-ucts, their core business is still operating as a job shop. Nearly 60% of the work they do is in this vein, and their certifi ed welders all have years of experience.

Until July of this year, they were an entity under publicly held and traded Toromont Industries, LTD., headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with 2007 revenues of nearly $2 billion. During 2007, Toromont determined that Aero Tech did not fi t its long range business plan and consequently made the decision to sell it off. It could have been sold to an invest-ment group, or any third party who had the interest and

the capital to purchase a successful precision sheet metal fabrication business. But the management team, headed up by Tim Riley, made the decision to become business owners.

Tim started at Aero Tech in 1977, just before it was purchased by Toromont Industries. He worked his way up in the fi rm, and was president of the division until the acquisition.

“The purchase of Aero Tech means little in terms of changing the way we do business and take care of our employees. It will be business as usual with the same management team, each with an average tenure of fi fteen years in the company, doing the same thing. We’ve always operated as an autonomous business unit within Toromont, with our own software and accounting systems, our own P&Ls, and our own business plans. Being a part of a large publicly held company was benefi cial in that we were required to develop comprehensive tactical and strategic business plans, and that helped us to get the capital needed to make the purchase”.

A2Z METALWORKER • 35 • July/Aug 2008

Since 1980, Aero Tech has been manufacturing turn-key hydronic radiant heating and cooling panels used in ceilings and fl oors of commercial, institutional and owner occupied buildings. The radiant panels are designed to and are “USGBC” (United States Green Building Council) compli-ant. Aero Tech landed its fi rst contract in the radiant panel industry with a U. S. Army hospital facility in Colorado.

Since 1998, they have been designing and manufac-turing truck mounted surface cleaning systems, called the Aero Tech XT-600. These diesel powered trucks, with a base price of around $75,000 can be equipped with a number of options, including blower size, box size, fresh and waste water tank size and customized cold weather packages just to name a few. In the surface cleaning industry the Aero Tech XT is the top of the line piece of equipment and is known for its extreme heat, deep vacuum, serviceability and reliability

The Aero Tech XT’s are CRI Gold Level certifi ed, and meet stringent 2008 carpet manufacturer warranty requirements. Using the truck engine exhaust waste gases to produce hot water – critical in any surface cleaning process – the truck uses computer controlled temperature management tech-nology and can attain the necessary operating temperature as the operator drives to his / her fi rst job site.

Gary Wilson, Sales Manager, and now current part owner, says, “I am really proud to represent a company that values its employees, invests in new technology and has exceptional tooling expertise. Our diverse breadth of prod-ucts and industries means that we are relatively immune to economic downturns, which in turn, benefi ts our customers and employees. We’ll be around for the long term”.

Randy Hickman, Material Control Manager at the company for 30 years says, “Our real time project tracking software helps me to ensure that our customers’ products are shipped correctly and on time. We treat our customers and our suppliers as we would want to be treated, and we’re loyal. We’ve had relationships with many of our cus-tomers and suppliers that are decades old. ATS, has been serving us since 1980. They are an outstanding supplier - their products are excellent and their people are top notch. When I call them with a question or problem, they know the solution and if they don’t, they research and fi nd the answer for me”.

For more information on this dynamic and bold com-pany, under new ownership (in Utah, not in Canada), call 801.292.0493, or go to their website to learn more about them www.aerotechmfg.com.