Emax Air Force Technology
Ownership: Private
Based: 1000 Cass Drive, Clayton.
Employees: 18.
Products: Air compressors running from 2 horsepower to 200 horsepower, air tools, air dryers for auto, tool and body shops, manufacturers and others.
Sales in 2008: $7 million, $1 million higher than 2007’s mark.
Goal: $40 million annually.
Source: Emax/Eaton
CLAYTON — As soon as anyone walks into the Emax Air Force Technology showroom, there’s no mistaking what the company is about.
Air compressors. And more air compressors. Piston- and rotary-screw compressors, small models to 8-foot, $50,000 behemoths, for home, commercial and industrial use.
Marvin Cain started the company by refurbishing old compressors on his Eaton farm in the mid-1970s while working for General Motors. It didn’t take long for him to start building his own.
“Just a small thing, mind you,” recalled his wife, Barbara Cain, mother of current president and chief executive Matt Cain.
Today, it’s not such a small thing.
Emax — sister division to Eaton Air Compressor & Fabrication — recently opened a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing and office complex off Cass Drive between Interstate 70 and Ohio 49. The facility falls under both the Emax and Eaton umbrellas, with Emax aimed at dealers and distributors, while Eaton serves clients who want factory-direct orders.
The compressors can be used for everything from injecting air into tires or swimming pools to heavy industrial uses.
The company has 18 employees today, but the Cain family has plans. With an overseas partner, Emax sells to Canada, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, Vietnam and elsewhere.
Tina Cain, the company’s office and finance manager, believes the employee number will double within two years. From the new Cass Drive facility, Matt Cain hopes to someday make 20,000 units annually. With his China-based partner, whom he declined to identify, he believes that’s possible. The company’s mantra, according to Tina Cain: “Go big or go home.”
The new building features plenty of space for assembly, testing and painting. Matt Cain recently showed off a 20-by-16 paint booth with a computer-guided paint-mixing station nearby.
At the paint-mixing station, more than 300 colors can be created, including, yes, pink, which an automotive club actually ordered for a tank recently.
“Matt does not compromise, at all,” said Jim Hall, Emax sales manager.
The Cains say the future will see completion of the move from the company’s former Eaton home (which had 16,000 square feet) as well as the formation of a Hulk Tools and Equipment division.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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