An 84-year-old company, Jamaica Bearings Co. Inc., was named the Family-Owned Business of the Year for 2009 by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Region II (which includes New York). The award recognizes, among other things, sales, profits and potential for continued long-term growth.

The company, which distributes bearings and other products to the aerospace, government, industrial, rail and export industries, began in 1925 and has been in the Negri family since 1934. Peter F. Negri, president and chief executive, is the second-generation owner, having taken over from his father, Frank. His son Brian, who joined the company in 1999, is vice president of aerospace and government and is being groomed to succeed Peter.

At the time Peter Negri joined the business full time in 1971, annual sales were about $1.8 million and the company employed 15 people at its former location in Jamaica, Queens. Today, sales fall just under $100 million and the company employs more than 135 people. In addition to its New Hyde Park headquarters, to which it relocated in 1985, the company has offices in Pennsylvania, Florida and California.

While growth was steady for much of the past two decades, in the two-year period following 9/11, sales slowed significantly.

“Up until 9/11, we had strong growth in the aerospace industry, but we began to make a concerted effort to further diversify into other industries, because it’s dangerous to rely heavily on one industry,” Negri said.

The company developed a subsidiary – Jamaica Miniature Bearings – which specializes in distributing high-precision bearings that have applications in industries such as health care, robotics and semiconductors. The new company was started in 1999 and then strengthened by the purchase of a California-based business in 2003. A second acquisition, a Florida-based firm, became Jamaica Aerospace Co., which distributes gaskets, seals and other products for the aerospace industry. “This second acquisition allowed us to diversify our product beyond bearings, even if it did not diversify the market,” Negri said.

Today, aerospace accounts for only 40 percent of Jamaica Bearings’ business. Since 9/11, its government, industrial, rail and export business has grown significantly, doubling overall sales and creating 50 new jobs.

The company, which competes with multibillion-dollar companies, remains in the game by focusing on markets that require specialized product knowledge and expertise, large amounts of inventory and long-term contracts. “We don’t venture into every market; for instance, we’re not in the automotive, steel or cement industries,” Negri said. “We focus and pour all kinds of resources into specialized markets that can be very tough to get into.” For instance, he noted, dealing with the government involves red tape, rules and regulations. “You really have to know what you’re doing,” he said.

The company’s practice of using internal resources to fund growth has served it well. “It has been a big asset for us not to have been beholden to debt, especially over the past few years,” Negri said.
“We tend to be conservative.”

Jamaica Bearings pays 100 percent of the premiums for its employees’ medical benefits and offers big-company benefits such as life insurance, 401(k)s, dental insurance and tuition assistance in addition to a company-funded pension. “My father started the pension in 1971 and it’s a tradition that we have kept going,” he said. “Employees take a level of comfort and feel a sense of loyalty and respect based on us doing what we have always done.

Providing the pension and good benefits helps the company in so many ways in terms of loyalty and decreased turnover.” The average tenure is 17 years, and employees include some married couples as well as two-generation family members.

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