In a competitive industry where it's hard to keep your footing, MilAIR has developed and manufactured cooling units for military use since 2006.
Revenues at this built-from-scratch company have jumped annually, from $233,000 in its first year to a projected $5 million in 2011, says Director of Sales John Lyons. The company currently employs 45 and plans to add new workers at a rate 10 percent each year as revenues continue to climb, Lyons says.
MilAIR manufactures heavy duty air conditioners, dehumidifiers, chillers, heat exchangers, generators and power converters for the military market. MilAIR moved to Milford, just northeast of Cincinnati, shortly after being broken from its parent company Burtek, Inc., in Michigan, which modifies trucks and other transportation equipment for the military. Burtek's former owner Bruce Burton also owns MilAir.
The company relocated from Michigan to Ohio largely on the strength of the area's workforce, Lyons says.
"There are a lot of people in the greater Cincinnati area that are very experienced in military air conditioning. So I thought, we should locate close to the people we want to hire," says Lyons, who is from the Cincinnati area and a 1977 graduate of Miami University College of Engineering. "Clermont County did give us some incentives and there is an ample supply of manufacturing space here, but workforce was the primary draw."
The company's innovation was recently recognized by Cincy Magazine with a 2010 Manny Award in manufacturing excellence. The magazine recognized the company's use of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to better design refrigeration components in the desert.
Source: John Lyons, MilAIR
Writer: Feoshia Henderson