Paradigm move is short on distance, long
on hope

With customers ranging from AK Steel to the local hobbyist, machine
shop expects a busy future.

By Thomas Gnau
Staff Writer

Thursday, January 24, 2008

DAYTON — Around Paradigm Industrial Inc., there's a saying.

"We can fix everything except a broken heart," quipped Chuck Grandin, Paradigm president.

Fixing and maintenance is what Paradigm does, on everything from tools that alter prosthesis parts to industrial shafts to much more.ers include Butler County's AK Steel Corp., as well as construction companies and hospitals. But Gr On one day, one of Paradigm's 35 employees will work on a surgical tool. The next day, he may work on a stabilizer bar for a bulldozer.

Paradigm recently moved barely a block north on Stanley Avenue, from a 4,000-square-foot home at 1254 Stanley to its 10,200-square-foot home at 1345 Stanley.

It's a jaunt short on distance and long on confidence: According to the city of Dayton, which approved a $50,000 grant to assist the move, it will allow the company to create 10 positions at an average annual salary of $34,560 during the next three years.

With a machine shop and welding shop, the company's biggest customandin and Rick Stamps, Paradigm vice president, emphasize that they work, too, for small businesses, including the fledgling machinist starting out in a two-car garage or even the hobbyist who collects vintage fire engines.

The company's biggest customer last year was Delphi Corp., which leads to the biggest question facing the firm in 2008: How will Delphi, which hopes to emerge from bankruptcy protection before April, fare? Delphi has closed a plant in Moraine and plans to close another on Home Avenue in Dayton.

Paradigm has worked for Delphi in Kettering and Dayton, but also for a Delphi plant in Mexico. Already, Grandin and Stamps have made contact with Tenneco Inc., a company Delphi has said may buy its Kettering plant.

Said Stamps, "I just hope we have the same rapport with the people who buy that plant."

Grandin and Stamps have roots in what today are Delphi facilities. Both men retired from General Motors in 1999 before starting Paradigm with the assistance of several partners.

"We were much too young to quit working," Stamps said.

All employees so far have been GM veterans who knew each other when they worked for the automaker. Rarely do Grandin and Stamps need to give new employees extensive interviews.

After all, they likely have worked together before.

Paradigm Industrial Inc.

Founded: 1999

New home: 1345 Stanley Ave., Dayton

Employees: Company sent out 35 W-2 forms for 2007.

Latest investment: About $85,000 in renovating new offices and work spaces.

Revenue: About $200,000 in its first year in business (1999-2000). About $1.25 million in 2007.

Services: Welding, maintenance, repair, machining, assistance with new product launches.

Quote: "The Dayton economy is pretty solid for us, for what we do." — Rick Stamps, Paradigm vice president.

Sources: Chuck Grandin, Rick Stamps

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com