BSU thrives in contract-assembly manufacturing niche

ITHACA — Jack-of-all-trades, master of none? That’s not the case at BSU, Inc., a woman-owned, contract-assembly manufacturer of electronic-circuit boards that has not only carved out its own niche, but also has thrived in it.

“We’re not going to be all things to all people, so let’s just concentrate on doing what we do really well,” company owner and president Christine Houseworth says of her business philosophy.

Ithaca–based BSU got its start in 1989 when Houseworth and Denver Jones, the company’s current vice president, found an underserved niche. It was difficult to find contract-assembly suppliers capable of handling highly technical work in lower volumes, and BSU filled that void, Houseworth says.

After a few years in business, Houseworth says BSU received a request from a large company — which she declined to name for the story — that asked if BSU could handle a quick production run that it couldn’t manage on its own. Houseworth agreed, and that one production run turned into several years of work for the company — complete with shipping products to overseas divisions.

However, over time that company evolved, Houseworth says, and the work seemed to be pulling BSU further and further away from its core values of providing superior technology and service. With so much offshore-manufacturing competition from countries like China, she says, the company would have had to compromise its values in order to be competitive on price. Combine that with other issues like tying up cash flow, and Houseworth says the decision she made about seven years ago to walk away from that customer and the $1.5 million in revenue it brought to BSU was an easy decision to make.

“We were kind of crawling out of our niche,” she says. Her decision brought BSU back to the place where it works best, she contends.

Today, the company focuses on two main areas. For its production customers, BSU produces products such as electronic-circuit boards used in high-tech manufacturing and laboratory equipment. BSU also builds prototypes for clients and can even work with those customers from the early-design stages to help the process flow smoothly.

Houseworth says her business has since recouped that $1.5 million in revenue it walked away from and continues to be stable with reasonable and sustainable growth. She declined to disclose revenue figures, but contends the company is doing “just fine” in that department.

“I’m not in favor of growing too large too quickly,” she says. BSU employs just under 40 people with a varied work load. When things get really busy, Houseworth offers overtime to her employees until the job is done.

To date, the company has not done a great deal of marketing and gains most of its new clients, which span across New York and along the East Coast, through word of mouth from existing clients. Engineers, in particular, serve as ambassadors for BSU and often want to continue to utilize BSU even if they’ve moved on to a new company, Houseworth contends.

Headquartered at 445 E. State St., BSU, Inc. (www.bsuinc.com) currently operates from 17,000 square feet of manufacturing space and has 15,000 square feet available to expand into if necessary, according to Houseworth.

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