DFF Corp. is projecting a 4% revenue increase for 2022, continuing its two-year growth streak, which featured a $20 million investment in equipment, according to president William J. Marganti.
While some companies have struggled during the pandemic, that has not been the case at DFF, which specializes in medium- to high-production of precision-machined components and electromechanical assembly products.
Located on 23 acres, the company, which began with a 2,000-square-foot building, now has approximately 300,000 square feet over three buildings. Another 15,000-square-foot expansion is planned for this year.
“It’s been a combination of things,” Marganti said in a recent interview about the reasons for the company’s success. “We got a couple of new customers which obviously helped, and we invested in some automation. We have a customer-driven focus … if you can automate and use automated manufacturing equipment, you are much more productive and it makes you more competitive.”
The DFF Corporation in Agawam. (Photo courtesy of DFF Corporation) Dave Roback
“We have robots making robots,” Marganti explained.
The company’s strong engineering team and reputation have helped set it apart from the competition, he added.
A lot of DFF’s business comes from the material handling equipment industry. They often are not making an “end product,” Marganti said, but the product that goes into that end product.
This includes such things as parts for robots, assemblies for electric propulsion ground vehicles, a cooling system device that cools batteries used in electric buses for public transportation and parts used for guns in the defense industry. Making products for medical devices also has been an area of growth, he added.
Bradley Sargent, left, and William McLearey are assembly techs at the DFF Corporation in Agawam on December 3, 2021. (Dave Roback photo)
Other industries that DFF serves include aerospace, robotics, life sciences, semiconductors, and security imaging and detection.
The company works with 14 customers on designs for their products and ways to make them easier to produce to maximize quality and reliability, according to Marganti.
When the pandemic first began in March 2020, DFF was already “ramping up,” he said. And, unlike companies that were able to shift to a remote or hybrid work model, that wasn’t possible for the manufacturer.
“We can’t make the products at home,” Marganti said.
In its 53rd year, DFF, which stands for Defect Free Flow, a name coined by now retired founder Ernest Denby, now has approximately 340 workers.
Since 2020, they have added 185 employees. The company started a second shift with 24/7 coverage in March 2020, just as the pandemic began to take hold. From 2019 to 2021, DFF has added 42 computer numerical control (CNC) machines and four robotics cells.
Christian Cosme, an assemby tech at the DFF Corporation works on a thermal management system in Agawam on December 3, 2021. (Dave Roback photo)
Marganti said DFF is finding employees through vocational schools, online hiring platforms and from industries that have struggled during the pandemic, such as aerospace.
The firm was also among those in Western Massachusetts which hired some former Smith & Wesson employees as the gun company announced plans to move its headquarters from Springfield, and part of its manufacturing operations, to Tennessee, and laying off 550 employees.
“We’re always looking to add skilled labor. We look at recruiting as perpetual. I had this discussion with other CEOs. People like to say you can’t find help. I disagree. If you have the right approach you can get help,” Marganti said, adding they are “aggressive” when they receive an application.
Challenges ahead include the price hike in some raw materials, such as aluminum, and increased lead times.
“We’re thankful we’re doing well, but it can change and we know that,” Marganti said. “Our business is mostly by word of mouth, but we’re starting to actively market ourselves which is going to pay off.”
