As the company looks to the future, leaders acknowledged a long, proud history.
As Gem City Engineering, the company has operated off Leo and Keowee streets in Dayton’s McCook Field neighborhood since before World War II. Acquisitions changed the names over the decades but not the work — in 2017, Cleveland private equity firm CapitalWorks acquired Gem City. In 2019, Libra Industries was formed through the blending of three entities: Libra Industries, Gem City and a manufacturer in Guaymas Mexico.
“With the average life of companies in the U.S., you’re not going to find many who have been around for 85 years or so,” Williams said. “We have 130 of the highest-skilled, dedicated and passionate employees that I’ve ever worked with.”
Joe Egbert, general manager of the Dayton facility, said those employees will now have an advanced clean room in which to do their jobs.
“We were able to increase our business with some of our existing customers, that required us to increase our capacity in the Dayton facility,” Egbert said.
JobsOhio data shows that the company received a $150,000 grant.
The city of Dayton agreed to provide $150,000 to the project, the Dayton Daily News reported earlier this year.
Neither Egbert nor Williams named names, but the room supports the production of equipment used to fabricate semiconductors. Actual chip fabrication will not happen on the Leo Street site.
Dayton city officials identified Intel as the impetus behind the project. It’s no secret that more than two years ago, Intel Corp. announced plans for chip fabrication plants east of Columbus. Construction is progressing on two plants in New Albany, an Intel spokeswoman told the Dayton Daily News in May.
While Intel acknowledged delays earlier this year due to slow market demand, the company has estimated that the dual plants will support 10,000 indirect jobs.
Austin Dicke, a project manager for Ferguson Construction who oversaw the building of the space, said the room boasts an ISO 7 rating, with the number indicating cleanliness of the air.
“All the work is being done by the mechanical systems,” he said. “We have 72 dedicated filter fan units in this space that keep the air turning over.”
The company provides electronic manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing customers in the aerospace and defense sectors, as well as medical, semiconductor, communications and industrial markets.
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