Friday, March 4, 2011

South Florida Ball Bearing Company Selected to Participate in State-Funded Economic Gardening Program

DELRAY BEACH – Boca Bearing, a Palm Beach County ball bearing company, has been selected to receive free assistance through the state-funded GrowFL program, part of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute.

Founded in 1987 by Owner/President Allen Baum, Boca Bearing imports and exports miniature bearings for a multitude of purposes, including robotics, prototyping, food and medical device manufacturing, radio-controlled hobbies and performance racing, according to Baum’s son Jason Flanzbaum, vice president of sales and marketing.

“We have been steadily growing every year even during the economic downturn,” Flanzbaum said. “As a result we have struggled with growing pains as well as succession-planning issues. Hopefully, GrowFL will help us through this transition period.”

Created in 2009 by the Florida Legislature, GrowFL is based at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. GrowFL will support Boca Bearings through a number of free services, including access to market research and technology, strategy analysis, CEO roundtables and forums, database research and website optimization.

When selecting businesses the institute looks for ones that have the potential to be successful, according to Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute.

“Companies like Boca Bearing are chosen for the program because of the potential they have shown and their efforts in becoming a second-stage company,” said O’Neal, who also serves as associate vice president for the University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization.

Flanzbaum said his family’s Delray Beach company, which currently has 15 employees, is “working through the many hurdles” that they feel are preventing them from faster growth.

“We are looking to expand our product range, buy a new building, hire three to five employees and invest in new infrastructure this year,” he said. “We believe with the assistance from GrowFL we can accomplish all of those goals.”
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About Boca Bearing: As a specialist in ceramic bearing technology, the Boca Bearing Company has been a trusted name in after-market and upgrade bearing replacement for more than two decades. The company focuses on conserving energy while reducing rolling resistance for extreme applications. Boca Bearing solves challenging application problems for many industries, including robotics, prototyping, food and medical device manufacturing, radio-controlled hobbies and performance racing.

About the Florida Economic Gardening Institute: The Florida Economic Gardening Institute was created by the 2009 Florida Legislature as the Economic Gardening Technical Assistance Program to stimulate investment in Florida’s economy by providing technical assistance for expanding businesses in the state. Qualified companies must be engaged in the following sectors to receive no-cost technical assistance: Manufacturing; Finance & Insurance Services; Wholesale Trade; Information Industries; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Management Services; and, Administrative & Support Services. Additional information is available at www.GrowFL.com.

For more information about this release, please contact: Jason Flanzbaum, Boca Bearing, 561-998-0004, Jason@bocabearings.com; Linda Nelson, Outreach Services GrowFL, 407-882-0046, Linda@Growfl.com; Jane Teague, Enterprise Development Corp. of S. Fla. 561-620-8494, jteague@edc-tech.org; Charlene Hager-Van Dyke, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142, chagervandyke@yahoo.com or Lvershelco@aol.com

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