Triad Technologies Moves Into New Fields, New Quarters

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Nov 26, 1999 by Fitting, Beth

SYRACUSE-A 20-year-old manufacturing company has outgrown its old quarters, as it is taking on the challenge of new product lines. Triad Technologies, until recently located in the old Prestolite building on Lamson Street, is moving from the east to the west side of Syracuse. It bought the former Greif Bros. building on Spencer Street this month and is in the process of moving into its new, spacious

56,000-sq.-ft. facility.

The company has just signed a contract to produce the bodies for kit cars. Mike Daly, president of Triad Technologies, speaks enthusiastically about its first product in this line. "The former editor of Hot Rod magazine built a hot-rod type of car called 'Scrape,' which is modeled on the 1938 Lincoln Zephyr. He's had it on tour all over the country. We've been hired to reproduce [the body of] this car and have just finished building the molds."

Molding the bodies of kit cars is one of two new product lines the company producing. Triad also has contracted is manufacture building panels for the construction industry.

Lew and Frances Daly, Mike Daly's father and mother, founded Triad Technologies 20 years ago. Lew Daly is an engineer who was working as a consultant to manufacturers on the design and production of their metal parts and products when he decided, according to his son, "to provide more service to the manufacturers by producing the parts and products himself."

Until the mid-'80s, the raw material was metal. Then, seeing the moldability and flexibility of plastic and fiberglass, Daly switched to those materials and a vacuum-molding process. Soon he was providing molded products for the transportation, simulation, amusement, marine, electrical, recreation, hospitality, and medical-device industries. Mike Daly mentions Doron Precision, the Binghamton simulator company, as "a big customer. Triad makes the enclosures for Doron's simulators, both for the amusement industry and for tractor-trailer training simulators."

Triad also manufactures its own product line for the healthcare industry. Since 1982, the company has been producing swimming-pool stairs and rails for rehabilitation facilities. Daly notes that the company has a strong foothold in that market "because we were there ahead of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

New contracts and a 100-percent increase in sales in 1997 motivated Triad to took for new quarters. It also plans to increase its 40-person staff, adding 60 by the year 200 1. Until now, Daly explains, the company has sold its products through manufacturers' representatives. But rapid growth has led it to decide to bring its marketing and sales force in house.

Daly expects an increase in profits of 5 percent this year, but attributes this to outlay of capital to fund the move and the new product lines. He's looking for a 40-percent increase next year.

Company officers include Daly's father, the founder of Triad, who serves as its technical director, and his mother, who is the chief financial officer, as well as Mike Daly, the president. It is a closely held family business, and Daly declined to reveal actual sales figures. More information on the company can be found at its Web site, www.triadtec.com.

Originally owned by Nabisco, the building at 105 Spencer St. was acquired by Millbrook, then Interstate Brands, Greif Bros., and finally is home to Triad. Pyramid Brokerage handled the sale.