Manufacturing In the USA Today

When the economy took a hit five years ago, Randy Bentley added a second shift. Bentley is a vice president at Numerical Precision Inc., a machining business that employs some 80 workers in Crosby, Texas, just outside of Houston. Numerical may be a small business but it makes big things like wellhead componenents for GE’s Oil & Gas unit, its largest customer. “We’ve been running two 12-hour shifts close to five years now with no slowdown in sight,” Bentley says. Today he is shopping for quotes to build a new 25,000 square foot plant to add machine capacity, and a new 5,000 square foot office. “I’ve always felt that we had a very loyal relationship with GE, especially with the guys down here in Houston. They’ve always taken care of us in downtimes.”