Fairfield testing company expands


Accutek Testing Laboratory

What: Independent materials testing company

Where: 3701 Port Union Road, Fairfield

Phone: 513-984-4112

President: John McCloy

Co-owners: McCloy, Greg McKnight and Justin Riebesel

Website: www.accutektesting.com

Employees: approximately 40

Revenues: anticipates growth this year of 25-30 percent to about $7 million

It’s not quite been three years since owners of Accutek Testing Laboratory expanded, bought a building and moved to Fairfield. But the company has already outgrown the space and is expanding again.

“We’re essentially out of desks,” said Crissy Zannoni, Accutek’s director of corporate resources.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday on an approximately 4,000-square-foot expansion at Accutek, 3701 Port Union Road. The project will also renovate an existing 8,000-square-feet of warehouse space to convert to more laboratory space, said President John McCloy, the majority owner. The project is a total $750,000 investment, McCloy said.

Accutek, which marked its 10-year anniversary in 2012, tests materials for other businesses in the medical device, aerospace and manufacturing industries. Those businesses hire Accutek to run tests for strength, endurance and signs of wear and tear on their materials and parts, such as knee and hip implants, helicopter parts and jet engine components. Medical device manufacturing is Accutek’s biggest market, McCloy said.

There’s a large and growing demand for testing, due to new and more advanced materials, government regulations, and advancements in testing technology, he said. Those trends feed Accutek’s growth. The materials tester is also growing by entering new markets in the oil and gas and composite materials industries.

Accutek also benefits from corporations that, looking to cut costs, outsouce their product testing to independent testers like Accutek.

“There’s a large demand for independent testing. We’re seeing new materials come out, stricter regulations, more control over parts being used in aerospace and medical,” McCloy said.

Since moving in October 2010 from leased space in West Chester Twp. to bigger space purchased in Fairfield, sales and employment have doubled, said McCloy, who bought the company in 2002. Accutek has a 50,000-square-f00t footprint in Fairfield.

Accutek now has about 40 employees, mostly engineers and test technicians. He said revenues are on pace to grow 25 to 30 percent this year to approximately $7 million.

Accutek conducts tests in Fairfield, its only location, for customers worldwide.

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