Attica stays ahead of pack

Walking through the oldest part of his Dundas St. factory, Andy Mavrokefalos gestures to the humming machinery around him.

Norman De Bono
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Andy Mavrokefalos leads a tour on the shop floor at Attica Manufacturing Inc., the firm his father founded that has experienced growth while others have suffered in the recession. Mavrokefalos says the secret is high-quality, high precision products embraced by local industry.

"My years have been spent in these walls," the president of Attica Manufacturing said with a laugh. "When I was 14, I used to clean the machinery, clean the cooling tanks. My dad's idea was to teach me a work ethic. Sleeping in on March Break was something I did before I was 14."

There's still not a lot of sleeping in for Mavrokefalos.

Sales at his machine shop, which makes precision custom parts for manufacturers, have grown about 10% this year amid a recession that has hammered other industries.

To explain how Attica -- named for the region in Greece from which his father Gerry, the company's founder, hails -- can succeed in this environment, Mavrokefalos made his way to a bin and runs his hand through stainless steel bits.

"We make these for Trojan. They used to get them from China," he said, smiling.


Although costs here are a "little" higher, Attica won the work because the quality is better, Mavrokefalos said.

"We make precision machine components and our target is difficult to make -- high precision, high demand work," he said. "I am so proud of the people who work here. They want Canadian manufacturing to advance, they want this work."

If Canadian manufacturing is to advance, industries might look at what Attica has done. It took machining, a traditional technology part of the manufacturing process, and turned it into an advanced manufacturing niche.

"Canadian industry cannot rely on making washers and screws. We cannot rely on that kind of platform. We have to make difficult components, we have to do high-end work," Mavrokefalos said of how local manufacturers will stay ahead of those in emerging markets looking to take our work and jobs, with lower costs.

"As an educated society we need to use what we learn and not make simple components," he said.

Attica is preparing for the next business wave. Yesterday, workers were installing new machinery geared to go after work in the emerging energy sector.

"This is one of London's best- run companies. It is emerging as a bright light in our city," said Steve Glickman, director of business retention at the London Economic Development Corp.

The Attica tour was a feature at a London Excellence in Manufacturing meeting where more than 60 local business representatives met to exchange ideas on how to run their businesses better, including looking at lean manufacturing and quality assurance initiatives, and view new quality and production monitoring software installed at Attica.

Among Attica's local clients are 3M, Kellogg, Nestle, McCormicks. Meridian Technologies and Jones Packaging.

Norman De Bono is a Free Press business reporter. norman.debono@sunmedia.ca



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