by: Dereck Andrade
INDUSTRY -- When the Asian economic crisis struck in October 1997,
few U.S. high-technology manufacturing firms understood the punch
it would ultimately deliver. Many U.S. exporting orders fell while
projects dried up as exchange rates fluctuated wildly by as much
as 70 percent depreciation between the United States and many Asian
nations.
It was an economic thud that could be heard all the way from
the floor of the Nikkei stock exchange to Wall Street. But Tom Chung,
44, president of Industry-based Tri-Net Technology Inc., a privately
held computer networking firm that had relied heavily on Asian exporting,
was able to keep his company in the black with little or no impact
on the firm's infrastructure. "The issue wasn't making a lot
of money," said Chung, "but to prove myself in business."
Chung, an entrepreneur who emigrated in 1979 from Taiwan to the
United States with $300 cash in his pocket, was a business leader
who heard the impending Asian economic thud. His decision was to
curtail the company's focus from exporting - which had been as high
as 55 percent - and turn Tri-Net's focus to the domestic marketplace.
"I'm only 44 years old, and I wasn't ready to retire,"
said Chung. "I wanted to see my business plan come true."
His business plan indeed ended up paying dividends just as the empirical
financial numbers were showing serious monetary consequences for
companies that didn't adapt as swiftly. Chung's Tri-Net has grown
from $900,000 in sales in 1993 to $7.5 million in 1998. This year's
projected revenue is $9 million, with just over $1 million expected
in profits.
Before the Asian economic turmoil struck, U.S. Customs in 1997 had
reported $185.8 billion in imports and exports that passed through
the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Ventura, and at Los Angeles
International Airport and McCarren Field in Las Vegas. But U.S.
Customs officials in 1998 reported a drop of nearly $4 billion in
imports and exports fell to $181.5 billion, the first decline in
that figure since 1982, because of the Asian economic crisis.
Two years later as the Asian economic turmoil appears to have run
its course, Chung oversees a company that has two manufacturing
facilities and a distribution center - a 33,000-square-foot facility
in Industry that Chung bought this year for $2.5 million; a 10,000-square-foot
facility in Tecate, Mexico; and a 9,000-square-foot distribution
center in Taipei, Taiwan. The Taipei facility escaped serious damage
or injuries to its employees in Monday's 7.6 temblor that struck
the island nation. Tri-Net, which manufactures high-speed cables
and whose clients include AT&T, has grown from two employees
in its first year - 1992 - to nearly 40 employees at its corporate
facility in Industry.
With Asia's economy on the mend, Tri-Net's business plan now calls
for "about 45 percent" of sales to come from the exporting
side of the house, according to Chung. In doing so, Chung has built
one of the strongest medium-sized cable and assembly manufacturing
firms in the San Gabriel Valley, a hot-bed for high-tech firms.
Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corporation, said Chung was very savvy as far as focusing
on the U.S. marketplace. 'You have to have a very flexible business
plan," said Kyser. "The world today is very fast moving,
and you have to constantly monitor what' is going on in the technology
market."
Owner: Tom Chung Age: 44
Nature of business: Computer networking products manufacturer and
distributor
Location: 21709 Ferrero Parkway, Industry
Phone: (909) 598-8818
Founded: 1992
Employees: 26 full-time, 13 part-time
Annual revenue: $7.5 million (1998 data)
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