Compressor manufacturer Mako to leave Ocala

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Oct 17, 2009 (Ocala Star-Banner - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GDIW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- An Ocala-based pioneer in the manufacture of breathing, air and gas compressors will soon be on the move from its home since 1978.

Gardner Denver officials revealed plans to shift Mako Compressors' operations in a brief statement to Ocala Business Journal.

"We would expect that the operations there will transfer to another location in the U.S. and that that transfer will be concluded by the end of 2009," said Helen Cornell, executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Gardner Denver, Quincy, Ill.-based owner of CompAir, Mako's British parent company.

Cornell would not provide any further details on the move, and officials at the Ocala plant refused comment.

A February 2008 Star-Banner story indicated Mako had 52 employees in Ocala and generated $15 million in business annually.

Mako's compressors have applications ranging from diving to fire safety to paintball.

Keith Davis, president of the Marion Regional Manufacturers Association, said Friday his company, Pratt Industries, learned of the planned move last week.

"They're an account of ours, very nice people," Davis said.

"This is one more reason why it's important to keep supporting the local economy," he added. "That's another building, more people unemployed and reduced manufacturing capacity. When a manufacturing facility closes, there are a lot of peripheral things that happen. Employees shop at Publix. They take their cars to local repair shops. There's a real ripple effect, and this is another wave.

"We need to do something about our unemployment ratio," Davis continued. "If it keeps going up, it'll be up there with Detroit's."

Jordan Klein Sr., a renowned underwater cinematographer, founded Mako Compressors in Miami in 1952 and moved the company to Ocala in 1978 before selling to CompAir in 1979.

"I thought after moving up here and all the effort we put into training good people, some of whom are still there, that we'd gotten away from the madness," Klein said by phone from his Summerfield home on Friday. "Now, I wish I'd never sold that company. It's a sad day for Ocala, but it's sad days all over the United States, I guess."

Gardner Denver revealed no specifics about the move, or whether Ocala employees will have the opportunity to transfer.

Davis said he understood the Ocala operations were moving to Macon, Ga. However, New England's Mako distributor said the company notified him last week the move will be to Peachtree City, Ga. Jim Danis, owner and president of Independent Compressor Service Co. of Upton Mass, said he's been a Mako distributor for more than 20 years and has no plans to end the relationship now.

"The product is probably the best one on the market," Danis said by phone. "That's why the company has been sold three or four times in the last 10 years. It's just going through changes. That's all."

Another distributor said he's cutting ties with Mako. Steve Furst, president of Airpower International Inc. of Pennsauken, N.J., said he'd heard of the planned move, though not from the company itself. When asked how he knew, Furst replied, "It's a small industry."

According to Airpower International's Web site, the company serves thousands of customers in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland and is "one of the largest Mako distributors in the country."

Furst said on Thursday he told Mako recently he was ending the 23-year relationship. He was vague when asked why.

"Tons of reasons," he said. "They were bought out by another company [Gardner Denver] recently. We're parting our ways, and I wish them well."

Matt Forshee is president of the Fayette County, Ga., Development Authority. He said Gardner Denver has a plant there, but company officials had not notified him of plans to expand.

"Our official policy is not to comment on projects, but I'll be honest. I've never heard of it," Forshee said Thursday.

Klein said he hadn't had much recent contact with the company he founded. After selling Mako to CompAir in 1979, he signed a four-year contract to work with the new owners and stepped away after the contract ended in the early 80s.

"That's a good company," Klein said of CompAir. "We really got along well together. They left me alone to do my work."

Klein, 84, says he's now involved primarily in the manufacture of stabilization devices for motion-picture cameras and has some involvement in filmmaking ventures with his son, Jordan Jr.

Gardner Denver bought CompAir in 2008.

A statement attributed to Barry L. Pennypacker, Gardner Denver's president and CEO, during an earnings conference call, indicated Mako's new owners would "continue to take action in order to meet the needs of customers and generate returns for our shareholders, two cornerstone principles of the Gardner Denver Way."

According to the transcript of the call posted at www.seekingalpha.com, Pennypacker continued, "While we deeply regret the impact that these actions have on certain employees, their families and the communities in which they live, we are committed to proactively managing our business through this economic crisis."

According to Morningstar, Gardner Denver has 7,700 employees. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GDI, and shares closed Friday at $37.07, down .77.

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