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Second
Fastest Growing Company in Austin - 10/27/2005 |
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| Second Fastest Growing Company in Austin - Cypress receives award from the
Austin Business Journal for second
fastest growing company in Austin
from 2002 -2004. |
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Contributing writer Shelley Seale
Published: October 27, 2005—
For a company that opened its doors
one week after Sept.11, 2001. Cypress
Industries Ltd. cane through its startup
phase with flying colors and has expanded
since them. |
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| A self-funded venture, Cypress Industries
spent the first year putting its infrastructure
in place and getting its name out
in the market. CEO Tom Lonsdale recalls
the many long hours that paid off
after the early years. |
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| "We put in a lot of capital
equipment and infrastructure."
Lonsdale says. "it took six to
nine months to get moved and up and
running. Trying to stay focused during
that time was a challenge." |
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| Record revenue growth in 2004, a
400 percent increase over 2003, prompted
staff and space expansions. Going
from 4,000 to 14,000 square feet of
office and manufacturing space and
increasing from a staff of three to
20 didn't happen overnight. |
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| Cypress Industries manufactures electronics
such as fiber optics and copper connectors,
cables and components, custom tooling
and plastics in the United States
and China. |
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| The company is unique in that it
manufactures electronics, metals and
plastics. Few companies handle all
three. |
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| Offering product design, prototyping
and testing also brings the company
a lot of business from inventors.
Cypress has added staff with expertise
in those areas to accommodate customer
needs and has expanded its operation
in China, where most of the company's
large - scale manufacturing is done. |
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| The global business economy is vital
to most manufacturing firms. According
to the Electronic Industires Alliance,
the radical re-organizing of manufacturing
along global lines has posed unprecedented
challenges to the industry. |
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| The United States has emerged as
a globally recognized leader in technological
development. |
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| "The best hope for the U.S.
to maintain its edge against rising
global competition is by fostering
and expanding our most prized intellectual
asset: innovation." says Dave
McCurdy, president os EIA. |
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| "Japan, the European Union and.,
more recently, China have made considerable
progress in successfully adapting
features of the U.S.' innovation model
in an attempt to gain parity with
or even challenge the U.S.' competitive
edge." |
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| New forms of global production, such
as the equity ownership Cypress has
in its China manufacturing offices,
have boosted productivity and yielded
cheaper, better, more powerful products. |
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| Cypress has clients worldwide. Eighty
percent of the company's customer
orders originate from its Web site,
which receives about 1,000 unique
visitors per day. |
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| While Cypress has many customers
in Texas, Lonsdale says: "A lot
of inventors and companies in Austin
still don't really know about us." |
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| Lonsdale aims for Cypress to be a
one-stop shop for its customers, making
it easy for them to take their products
from design to market in the time
frame desired. |
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| The University of Texas Longhorn
band relied on this expertise and
response to timeliness for the renovation
of Big Bertha, the world's largest
bass drum. The drum was in dire need
of new metal drum head clamps, which
keep the drum surface taut. |
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| Many of the existing clamps were
missing or had been replaced with
odd-sized clips that didn't match
the originals. The longhorn band wanted
exact replies so Big Bertha could
be restored to original condition
in observance of the 50th anniversary
of "her" arrival on campus. |
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| Budget and an aggressive deadline
constrained the project: the clamps
were needed by the start of football
season. |
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| After going to several companies
unable to manufacture the clamps in
time, the Longhorn band contacted
Cypress. Cypress created the tooling
required to make the parts in a week,
and the clamps were then poured and
formed. Cypress shortened a months
long process to four weeks - just
in time to make the game deadlines. |
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| "I never thought it would be
such a daunting task," says J.P.
Kirksey with the Longhorn Alumni Band. |
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| "For the first time in many
years, all 76 clips [are] the same.
That is quite an accomplishment and
one that would not have been possible
but for the incredible creativity,
commitment and persistence displayed
by ... the supporting crew at Cypress." |
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| In appreciation, the Longhorn band
recognized Cypress Industries with
an award before the Rice University
game on Sept. 17. |
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| Lonsdale says he is proud of Cypress'
corporate culture and values employees’
hapiness. Employees aren't pigeonholed
into one niche, but rather cross-trained. |
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| "We want this to be a place
where you want to come every day and
have fun," Lonsdale says. |
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| CONTACT: |
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Deb Gabor
Sol Marketing Concepts
512.554.1538
deb@solmarketingconcepts.com |
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Cypress Industries
512.637.2540
info@cypressindustries.com |
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