2-year-old Premier finds profits close to home

LONGMONT — When Phil Robertson saw work moving from Colorado to California, Texas and Arizona, he saw an opportunity.

Turns out, he was right and in a big way. In just two years, that opportunity has blossomed to become the fourth fastest-growing private company on The Business Report’s list, Premier Manufacturing & Supply Chain Services.

The Longmont company now is keeping work in Colorado as a full-service manufacturing subcontractor building printed circuit boards used for medical products, printers, telecommunications and networking equipment, computers, diagnostic equipment and security systems.

?Having been on the other side of the fence for many years, we felt that there was a great opportunity here to fill a need for another reliable subcontract company in the area,? said Robertson, who is now chief executive.

Robertson, along with his partner, Edmond Johnson, started Premier in February 2000 with the idea to provide companies along the Front Range with a reliable source for their subcontract manufacturing requirements.

Both Robertson and Johnson’s previous experiences worked well for starting Premier. Robertson served in management in many high-tech original equipment manufacturing companies such as Maxtor Corp., Conner Peripherals, Xanar Inc., Spectra-Physics Inc., Flextronics Corp. and others. Johnson has worked for IBM Corp., US Robotics, Maxtor Corp., Flextronics and AST Computers.

And the two have steered Premier into the top five among fastest-growing companies, logging $3.4 million in revenue last year, up 126 percent from $1.5 million in 2000.

?There have been many very large subcontract manufacturing companies in the area, but they do not cater to the range of business that’s needed to support Colorado businesses,? Robertson said. ?They are only interested in very large accounts — $50 million potential per year.?

Premier focuses mostly on prototype, quick turnaround, pre-production and volume production work. Besides offering a full range of contract manufacturing capabilities, Premier also offers what’s called “turnkey materials” ? which means Premier buys all the material required for the customers printed circuit board assembly and then assembles it.

?This appeals to many companies because it means they don’t have to invest in the infrastructure to purchase and manage materials,? said Robertson. ?Most contract manufacturing companies our size cannot offer this service.?

Premier has expanded three times and now occupies 15,000 square feet of space and employs 20 people.

Robertson said the amount of growth didn’t completely surprise him, but he didn’t count on the economic downturn.

?No doubt, the current economic climate is tough. And we’ve been fortunate to experience growth despite general economic conditions,? he said. ?Many customers have cut back their internal manufacturing and spending. But this can translate into added business for us because often, as a company downsizes internally, it no longer has the staff to do its own manufacturing and looks to outsource.?

The economic downturn has caused some contract manufacturing companies in the area to close plants, and others have abandoned the Colorado market altogether. But once again, Premier saw opportunity and picked up some additional customers from the closed companies.

Robertson said the growth has come primarily from new customers directed by word-of-mouth. ?Of course we have to offer a quality product at competitive prices to compete effectively in this market,? he said.

?The only way to survive in this very competitive market of contract manufacturing services is to develop partnerships with our customers and work together for a relationship over the long term.?

Robertson said Premier offers its customers ?a lot of flexibility? in meeting their needs whether it’s schedule changes or engineering changes.

So how big does Robertson see Premier becoming?

?That has a bit of confidentiality to it, we don’t want to give out too much information (to) our competitors. Let’s say we plan to grow to be a mid-sized contract manufacturer — $20 million to $50 million.?

Robertson said he expects future growth to come from new accounts that wish to keep their production local.

?As we grow we are able to handle larger and larger accounts, and then the growth could be dramatic,? he said.

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