Islip manufacturing companies take expansion plans to IDA
Ronkonkoma-based East/West Industries designs and manufactures aircraft seats and crew life-support systems primarily for the military.
Two Islip-based companies plan to launch expansions that will create additional jobs and boost manufacturing.
Designs for Vision and East/West Industries are both hoping in the next several months to expand the buildings that house their operations, according to documents filed with the town. Designs for Vision employs 190 people, and East/West Industries has 80 workers.
Designs for Vision’s manufacturing facility, based in Bohemia since 1986, plans to create approximately 16 jobs with a $7.5 million expansion. The company, founded in 1961, designs, engineers and builds specialized optical products for dentists and surgeons.
John Walser, executive director of Islip’s Industrial Development Agency, told Newsday on Tuesday that the company plans to purchase a new building on Orville Drive — around the corner from its offices on Veterans Memorial Highway — to establish a campuslike setting.
The company anticipates the $6.8 million purchase of the building to be complete by the end of the year, Herbert Schwartz, the company’s vice president of finance, told Newsday on Wednesday. The rest of the money earmarked for the expansion is slated to be spent on renovations and equipment.
The new property will be used for additional manufacturing as the company expands the medical fields it services with its fluorescence-guided surgery technology.
This is the second time the company has outgrown its current space in recent years. A 2016 letter sent to the IDA by founder Richard Feinbloom explained that the company planned to move to its current Veterans Memorial Highway location since it was outgrowing its former space on Koehler Avenue. Five years later, it again is planning an expansion.
East/West Industries, a company founded in 1968 that designs and manufactures aircraft seats and crew life-support systems primarily for the military, plans to spend more than $566,000 to develop 27,000 square feet of additional manufacturing space. Its building on Orville Drive North is approximately 48,000 square feet.
The company doesn’t own the building and leases its space. It will soon sign a new lease for 10 years, president Teresa Ferraro said Wednesday. The expansion has been in the works for the past five years and will allow the company to expand its manufacturing by next March, she said.
Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter praised East/West’s growth and called it "an American Dream success story."
The expansion is estimated to add approximately 12 jobs to the Ronkonkoma-based company, Walser told the town board during Tuesday’s meeting.
This is East/West Industries’ latest investment in the growing company. The firm invested more than $250,000 in 2016 in technology to boost productivity.
The IDA, made up of Islip Town Board members, voted 5-0 to pass inducement resolutions, the first step of official action, for both projects. The next step will be a public hearing, followed by a final authorizing resolution, Walser said.
"This is the kind of thing that we love to see," he said of both companies’ growth. "These are companies that are employing people and growing. That’s the name of the game for what I do."
Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.
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