A small manufacturing company that helps customers make products quickly has seen sales take off in the past few years.
Santa Ana-based Pro-Dex Inc., which specializes in product development and manufacturing for clients, saw its annual revenue grow by 64% to $13.1 million during the past three years through June 30.
The growth was enough to put it on the list of Orange County’s fasting-growing companies for the first time. Pro-Dex ranked No. 37, tied with Irvine-based auto marketer Autobytel Inc.
Its profit picture also has improved in the past three years.
Pro-Dex swung from a net loss of $1.7 million during the year ended June 30, 2002, to a profit of $1.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2005.
The growth has come by shifting away from primarily making its own products. Instead, Pro-Dex has boosted its product development and contract manufacturing operations for other companies in the medical, dental, industrial, scientific research, aerospace and military industries.
Pro-Dex makes products ranging from orthopedic surgical shavers to numbing tools for dentists.
The company says it will take on product development in any field,and help make sure the product reaches the market as soon as possible.
One caveat: Pro-Dex is interested mainly in signing long-term manufacturing contracts, typically three to five years.
The company operates via two 20-year-old-plus manufacturing companies.
The larger of the pair is Santa Ana-based Micro Motors Inc., which traditionally distributed its own line of dental instruments.
The other is Beaverton, Ore.-based Oregon Micro Systems Inc., which designs and produces small motion controllers for medical, dental, industrial robotics and technology uses.
Pro-Dex, which employs 100 workers, has built up a 20-person team of engineers in several fields, including electrical and mechanical engineering. It also employs workers that make product models.
“We’re a company that doesn’t rely on a single piece of IP (intellectual property), a single customer, a single market,” Chief Executive Patrick Johnson said during a recent presentation to analysts. “We’re a highly diversified company for a company our size.”
Micro Motors and Oregon Micro Systems used to operate as completely separate divisions. But in the past year, Pro-Dex melded the units into one company.
The move made Pro-Dex more simple to operate, Johnson said.
“A year ago…we were managing a clumsy infrastructure that added no real value,” Johnson told investors during a quarterly conference call.
Pro-Dex recently filled a couple of key positions. Ajay Kumar was named vice president of product development and Mark Bennett was tapped as director of sales for Pro-Dex’s factory automation products.
The company expects to post sales of $16 million to $18 million during the next 12 months and a profit of $2.5 million to $3 million.
Pro-Dex has a market value of $32 million.
But Wall Street has taken a shine to Pro-Dex. The company’s shares have climbed from about 50 cents each at the end of 2002 to more than $3.35 at a recent check.
In the past year, Pro-Dex shares are up about 20%.
THE NUMBERS
Employees: 100
Market value: $32 million
3-year sales growth: 64%
Annual sales through June 30: $13.1 million
Annual net income: $1.4 million
Company: contract manufacturer
