LFI, Inc.
Striving to match the offerings of corporate giants such as Wal-Mart, BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco, most companies are expanding their services to reach out to every customer in the market. But more often than not, these companies don't offer quality products from start to finish.
When LFI Inc., located in Smithfield, was operating as Laser Fare Inc. some fifteen years ago, they too offered their laser services to almost every industry, from jewelry to auto parts.
"Back then, we were doing everything for everybody," says LFI Vice-President Roland Benjamin. Established as LFI in 2003, the company started as a laser contract manufacturer for aircraft engines, but has recently been manufacturing stainless steel components for medical devices.
Most of the medical devices LFI manufactures are minimally invasive, yet innovative tools. For example, one of the most popular devices LFI produces is a tiny tube-based tool used to clean out tissue in spinal surgery. "Before this device appeared in surgery, doctors were using pliers," adds Benjamin.
LFI works with designers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to create medical devices from start to finish. Sometimes, though, the designer's plans don't translate in the manufacturing world. "Here's the innovative part," says Benjamin, "if what they send can't be made, we'll go back and figure out how to do it. That's where the innovation comes in."
The medical device industry instantly appealed to LFI after they discovered they were ideally suited to support regulations for laser and medical devices. In 2004, LFI abandoned the majority of the other industries and used their laser technology to cut, drill and weld metals and other materials.
"We changed the way we were doing business — for the better," says Benjamin.
Indeed, the decision to provide their laser services to specific industries has paid off. According to Benjamin, when LFI was just starting to manufacture pieces for medical devices in 2004, it represented about 25 percent of LFI's output. Now, it represents more than 60 percent of the company's manufacturing business.
Once the kinks in the plans are flushed out, which takes anywhere from two to three months, LFI can produce 300 to 600 medical devices a day. After LFI ships the parts, the customer adds the plastic components of the medical device in a clean room. Eventually, says Benjamin, LFI would like to do complete one-day turns.
LFI provides the stainless steel parts of medical devices to more than 100 customers each year including medical giant Johnson and Johnson, Medtronic, Smith and Nephew, and Boston Scientific.
With 59 employees and a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Smithfield, LFI is happy to call Rhode Island home. Geographically, Benjamin says, LFI's location couldn't be better.
"We're close enough to Boston to work well with those customers," Benjamin says.
But LFI is far enough away to reap the benefits of Rhode Island's size and accessible public and private sector networks. In fact, you might say that one of LFI's suppliers, D Simpson Inc., is fairly accessible — it's right down the street.