History
Elrae Industries, Inc. (formerly known as Elrae Pressed Metals) was founded in Buffalo, New York in 1946. A complete manufacturing solution today, back then the company sold primary products – including fenders, chainguards, crank cups, carriers, and forks – to the bicycle industry.
In 1962 the company was sold to ABS Industries of Ashtabula, Ohio, allowing it to provide additional products that helped round out its bicycle lines. Elrae was the only New York State location of ABS Industries in the seven-company group. In 1982, Elrae, along with many other domestic bicycle supply firms, lost a severe market share to the Asian market. When Elrae completed its factory lease that year, ABS decided to close the Buffalo operation and liquidate
its assets.
Anthony J. Mancuso joined the company in May of 1979 as General Manager in charge of the Buffalo subsidiary. In 1982, upon learning that the company would be closed, Mr. Mancuso led a group of investors to purchase Elrae. The name was changed from Elrae Pressed Metals to Elrae Industries, Inc. to properly position it as a provider of services beyond the bicycle industry.
The challenge was immediate, as the domestic bike industry was severely depressed due to foreign competition (and still is), which first captured the parts market and then the entire assembly of bicycles. Every major Elrae customer began to purchase off shore.
Pressed by the volatile bicycle market, Elrae Industries looked for new markets to leverage its metal forming equipment and the skills of its employees. The company first focused its efforts on the local automotive industry. It began a marketing program to sell contract stamping and roll forming services to automotive customers. The owners made many of the local sales calls, then eventually a group of manufacturing sales agents was hired to sell such services outside the local area.
At the time of the purchase in 1982, Elrae Industries moved to its present location at 11035 Walden Ave. in Alden, New York – not far from Niagara Falls and Buffalo. The facility occupied 50,000 square feet (now 76,000) of manufacturing space with ample land for expansion. Over the years, the employee population has grown from 14 to more than 50, as have the products and services the company now provides. In 1997, Elrae obtained registration to QS9000/ISO9002 by SGS International Certification Services, Inc. and in 2004 the registration was upgraded to ISO 9001:2000.
Today the bicycle industry accounts for less than seven percent of Elrae's total revenues. As a contract metal stamper and roll former, we provide numerous additional services to many other markets. Elrae Industires, Inc. provides services to the automotive, electronic, electrical, motorcycle and hand tool industries to name a few.
Today Elrae's in-house manufacturing facility is comprised of many pieces of new, updated, custom automated equipment. Including complete roll forming lines, numerous stamping presses – from 20 to 600 tons, using electronic feed systems – custom built customer dedicated work cells, and various other assembly, welding and secondary operation equipment.
Although Elrae's core business is focused on metal forming manufacturing capabilities, we have concentrated our efforts on adding value to what is often considered a commodity industry. Elrae has worked to expand its assembly capabilities – in some cases manufacturing assemblies with very little metal-formed components at all. From metal-formed subassemblies to complete product assemblies, Elrae enjoys taking on new challenges to improve its business and that of our customers. From manufactured components to subassemblies to "Retail Ready" products, Elrae has evolved into a complete manufacturing solution or what we like to call Manufacturing Solutions that Win the Day™ – keeping pace with changing technology and a changing marketplace. But never changing our commitment to the very best in service and quality for our customers.
