Electronics manufacturer moves to St. Pete after acquisition

Sunny-Z Inc., a St. Petersburg-based technology company, has acquired American Fibertek, a technology manufacturing firm that makes crucial digital network hardware.

American Fibertek is relocating to St. Petersburg from Somerset, New Jersey as a result of the deal, said Donna Poulos, president and owner of Sunny-Z.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Three or four American Fibertek employees will move here from New Jersey, and the move will create about four or five new jobs locally. There also are a handful of sales persons who work remotely.

The deal will round out the portfolio at parent company Sunny-Z, which already has a distributor and a federal systems integrator under its umbrella, Poulos said.

The local economy is stronger than in New Jersey, the cost of doing business here is lower and there’s a talent pool to tap, she said.

“Donna shared with me that the lease rates alone comparing New Jersey to Pinellas County were almost reason enough to make the move! We have an experienced workforce in electronic assembly in Pinellas County. We even have a certified electronics training company in Clearwater to assist if needed,” said Scott Talcott, business development manager, Pinellas County Economic Development.

American Fibertek produces a wide variety of electronic network security devices, switches, power supplies, and converters.

“One of Pinellas County’s greatest strengths is electronics manufacturing,” Talcott said. “Electronic component circuit board assembly, switches, power supplies and other digital network hardware are advanced tech. Our workforce that produces and assembles these components is very strong. Circuit board assembly is a subsector of manufacturing that utilizes a very sophisticated talent pool to operate the equipment for high-tech nano-soldering. This is how manufacturers put tiny components on computer boards.”

Companies like American Fibertek are exactly the type of employer that the Grow Smarter initiative in St. Pete seeks to build, said J.P. DuBuque, president and CEO of the Greater St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corp.

“The relocation is an especially bright spot given the current global economic crisis,” DuBuque said.

Both Sunny-Z and American Fibertek will be headquartered at 745 43rd St. S., in a HUBZone, an historically underutilized business area.

American Fibertek makes all its products in the United States, in compliance with the federal Trade Agreements Act, said Matt Poulos, business development director and Donna Poulos’ nephew.

“There’s so much of our industry that defaults to going through China. American Fibertek focuses on mitigating the risk of interacting and relying too heavily on Chinese or other foreign sources,” he said.

Now that it is woman-owned, American Fibertek is a triple threat for winning federal contracts.

“The growth plan has to do with the federal market, it has to do with leveraging our woman-owned status, our HUBZone status, made in America and the Buy America act. All those things give us an edge because those are all federally accredited programs that the federal government can take advantage of,” Donna Poulos said.

American Fibertek also works in the energy, casino and corrections markets.

“The business was doing well in New Jersey. We feel  by moving it to St. Petersburg and to Florida, it offers us and the business opportunities to grow and feed into the economy,” Matt Poulos said.