Published: October 22, 2008 02:37 am      

SOMERSET: Machine shop owner plans to expand business

SOMERSET — Jeff Thuman chooses to keep his products and customer list a little bit of a secret, but the founder of JT Precision will become a bit more public when he moves his shop from Lower Lake Road to a site across from the town hall on Haight Road.

Thuman, 39, hopes to move to a new building and double his workforce from 10 to 20. Once the land on Haight Road is rezoned industrial, the father of three plans to buy James L. Dickinson’s property and break ground in a few months.

The public hearing on rezoning is set for Nov. 5.

“I’m very optimistic and pleased he wants to stay in town and keep it local,” said Councilman Randall Wayner, who visited the shop in mid-September. “I was very impressed when I went down there. I’ve been at a lot of machine shops. It’s a clean, quiet shop.”

Thuman, a graduate of Williamsville North, transformed a former block and tackle shop on Lower Lake Road to a Computerized Numerical Control Machine Shop. There’s nothing fishy in the old 4,500-square-foot building. It’s high-tech.

“I couldn’t hear the machines from the outside and didn’t detect an odor. He runs a good tight ship,” said Wayner. “Sometimes there will be tramp oil on the floor. The floor is dry and clean. It’s a nice shop.”

On the outside, the old buildings are inconspicuous, without even a business sign. The inside has skilled technicians running precision computerized machines that produce semiconductors, which are essential in modern consumer electronics, including computers, mobile phones and digital audio players. JT also makes precision medical tools for arthroscopic surgery.

Jeff and Chris Thuman have three children, Jeff Jr., 12; Amy, 9; and Kaleigh, 8 months. The family lived in Newfane for 10 years before moving to their current home in 2005

Jeff had one semester of college, but didn’t like it much. He learned the trade at a small shop in Lockport and worked for 22 years before creating JT Precision in the summer of 2005.

“It was a longtime desire to open our own business. We’re happy we did it. It’s been a fun experience. We enjoy being in business.” he said. “I’m not that smart of a person. I just have a lot of guts. I know my business well and know the industry pretty well. I know where my strengths and weaknesses are and my practice is to hire my weaknesses and concentrate on my strengths in the machine industry. I know how to make the product.”

Thuman will sub-contract some of its work.

JT has a well-experienced work force consisting of men who retired early from Delphi and a couple of younger men who are learning the trade. “I knew enough people to keep this plant busy. We talked to people we knew.”

Two main customers keep the plant busy, but Thuman wants to diversify the customer base with a more aggressive sales and marketing campaign.

“There’s lots of people who know what we make,” Jeff said. “We manufacture cast iron parts. I dance around the subject because I don’t want to give away any secrets, but they are high-precision castings. It’s a pretty competitive business out there.”

JT Precision does work for the vacuum pump industry and the semiconductor industry. “Some of the larger chip manufacturers in the world get some of our product, eventually,” he said. “We sell it through another property.”

Thuman was able to get manageable financing on equipment that has cost several hundred thousand dollars. “We buy them, pay them off and do it all again,” he said. “We’ve got a wide range of parts that we make. Were a job shop, machine shop, with medium production runs of very high-tolerance parts.”

JT Precision is in a residential area. “With 11 or 12 employees, it’s a little bit intrusive,” he said. “The new place give us some more options. It’s a much better location to expand.”

He talked to an architect last week and gave him a direction to move in. It will take 60 days for architect and engineering work. If there’s a mild winter, he is prepared to break ground and is confident he’ll be able to recruit enough skilled workers.

With a building project in the works, Thuman is paying more attention to the economy. “We want to expand our business and the economy is a factor in that, but we’re still moving forward,” he said.