Holland manufacturer finds prosperity in diversification, adds four jobs

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Holland-based Kenowa Industries, an automotive materials handling supplier, recently made its first foray into the alternative energy field, adding one more industry to its diversified customer base. Kenowa's diversification efforts have kept the company afloat in a turbulent economy. 

Kenowa designed and manufactured a precision solar panel work-in-process cart for Grenzebach Corporation, Newnan, GA, an international supplier of conveyors and robotics. Grenzebach's end user, a solar panel manufacturer, needed a cart to move custom-formed 2-by-3.5 foot glass panels through a conveyor system without breakage.

"A robotic arm loads the panels into 40 shelves on the cart, so the measurements for each shelf have to be very, very precise," says Mark Doyle, sales manager for Kenowa. "Grenzebach tried to source it down there, but couldn't find anyone to meet their critical lead time or to manufacture the carts holding the tight tolerances – corner to corner, side to side and top to bottom the measurements could only be off less than a millimeter.

"This project is by far the most intricate and most precise of any project we've ever done," Doyle adds.

Five years ago Kenowa went looking for new clients in the medical, aerospace, lumber and retail industries. Today, about 40 percent of the company's business comes from those diversification efforts; the rest comes from the automotive industry.

Government contracts are next on the to-do list, which prompted Kenowa's leaders to enlist help from Right Place Inc. to make crucial business connections and to become a certified minority-owned business.

Kenowa celebrates 30 years this year and logged $4 million in revenue in 2008. The Grenzebach work generated four permanent jobs and two temporary positions, bringing employment to 25.

Source: Mark Doyle, Kenowa Industries

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].