Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • June 18, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing MANUFACTURING Arcor's laser focus drives its expansion F or the second time in a decade, Gary Francoeur has had to make room for his expanding Suffield laser-services operation. And, he worries he may need to again inside of a year. Francoeur, founder of what is his second manufacturing-services enterprise, Arcor Laser Services, says rising demand for the firm's laser-cutting and metal-joining exper- tise drove him to lease a 24,000-square-foot former distribution warehouse, less than two football fields down the road from Arcor's own home at 4 Kenny Roberts Memorial Drive. That 12,000-square-foot building opened in 2010. Into that new space Francoeur says he is adding at least three new hybrid machines — each costing about $500,000 — equipped with both machine tools and a laser capable of highly precisioned metalwork. In addition, about 10 new workers will join Arcor's 90-person payroll within a year, he said. A mechanical engineer who still resides in his hometown of Southwick, Mass., a 10-minute drive across the Connecticut border, Fran- coeur's first brush with manufacturing entre- preneurship occurred in 2004. He and his brother Michael Francoeur launched Joining Technologies LLC, an East Granby vendor still using electron-beam technology, along with lasers, to bind metals. But their paths eventually split, with each moving on to helm apparently thriving private production enterprises. While Michael Francoeur was mastering electron-beam technology and serving customers, including Pratt & Whitney, Gary Francoeur looked ahead to what he considered the future of ade- quately and cost-effectively joining metal to metal. "I saw an opportunity penetrating aerospace with lasers,'' Gary Francoeur said during a re- cent sitdown. "They were new technology, but it wasn't quite ready for aerospace." So, today much of Arcor's work, he said, is on behalf of surgical tool and other medical device manufacturers for which metal components must be shaped, cut and bound to fine tolerances. Arcor's first laser machine cost $800,000 in 2005, he said. Its newest is four times smaller, 50 percent more efficient, and 60 percent cheaper than the 2005 machine. "Every three years, the laser technology changes,'' Francoeur said. The perception of industrial lasers, inside and outside the industry, has come a long way in the last two decades, he said. "It used to be like, 'ooh, black magic,' '' he said. Francoeur and Jay Tolo, Arcor's general manager who oversees its day-to-day operations, are mum about Arcor's annual revenues, except to say that in the last five years sales have risen 15 percent to 18 percent annually. Staffing in the same period has doubled, to 90 workers. The Suffield plant has run three shifts, seven days a week since 2015. "We're making money. It's a profitable busi- ness,'' Francoeur said. DEAL WATCH Plainville industrial building sold A Plainville industrial building sold recently for $1.1 million, brokers say. Coil Pro Machinery bought a 15,968-square- foot building at 76 Northwest Drive from Northwest Drive LLC. Colliers International was sole broker. Coil Pro designs and manufactures in-house, custom- built coil processing equipment for the coil-processing industry. It's been in business since 1997 and lists a Southington address on its website. Solinsky EyeCare's Vernon site Hartford's Solinsky EyeCare has opened its sixth area office in Vernon. Solinsky leased 1,459 square feet at 281 Hartford Turnpike from landlord Boston Vernon II LLC for its newest eye-care center, according to sole broker Colliers International. Its other centers are in Hartford, East Hartford, West Hartford, Enfield and Newington. $550K S. Windsor sale A South Windsor commercial building has sold for $550,000, brokers say. Robert Urso purchased the 3,960-square-foot building at 1708 Ellington Road from seller Gary Spelucin. Colliers International was sole broker. Walmart's Newington lease Walmart inked a short-term lease on a 40,000-square- foot industrial warehouse in Newington, brokers say. The Arkansas retail giant, with 31 Connecticut stores, leased 81 Alumni Road from landlord Vernal Co. Colliers International was sole broker. 1708 Ellington Road, South Windsor. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED BANKING & FINANCE CT banks' 1Q profits soar 44% The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently released its first quarter state banking performance data, which shows Connecticut's 41 federally insured banks collectively grew their first-quarter profits 44 percent compared to the year-ago period. Here are some other performance metrics. 1Q 2018 1Q 2017 Total No. of FDIC-insured banks 41 42 Number of unprofitable banks 2 1 Net income $283M $197M Total assets $111.1B $105B Total loans & leases $81.5B $76.9B Nonperforming assets to assets 0.55% 0.63% Source: FDIC Gary Francoeur, owner of Arcor Laser Services, is adding new laser tools inside his newest Suffield production facility to keep pace with spiraling orders, especially among medical-device makers. HBJ PHOTO | GREGORY SEAY

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