Stan Greene, owner of Greene Machine and Manufacturing, was ready to retire when he asked Larry Collins, who had worked with Greene since the late 1990s, if he would be interested in purchasing the business.  Before making a decision, Larry and his wife, Gwen, attended a class for start-ups offered by the University of Georgia SBDC and began working with an SBDC consultant to review the purchase agreement and options for funding.

“Our consultant was helpful in reviewing the agreement and talking about cash flow,” said Larry. “He presented us with information on SBA loan products. We did the paperwork for an SBA express loan for working capital, submitted it the day after we signed the purchase agreement and were able to get funding within 30 days.”

“In just two months, we owned the company,” said Gwen. “If it wasn’t for the SBDC, we wouldn’t have known about the SBA loan. It was pretty phenomenal how quickly that transpired.” They continued meeting regularly with the SBDC.

A few years later, they began looking into ways to expand their work on government contracts and enlisted the help of SBDC Consultant Lisa Rackley to begin evaluating SBA certification programs.

Rackley worked with them on the WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) and 8(a) Business Development certifications.

“The 8(a) application process is pretty intense,” said Rackley. “The U.S. Small Business Administration does a thorough review of the application to determine if the business should receive 8(a) certification. Gwen worked very hard to make it happen.”

Greene Machine was awarded its certification in 2013. Sales growth remained steady until 2015, when the Department of Defense came calling.

[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]See how the UGA SBDC helped this business secure an SBA loan, start, expand, grow sales by over 40% yearly, and increase their employment by 400%:[/tweetthis]

“We got a call out of the blue from the Navy asking if we could manufacture ground support equipment for the H-1 helicopter. They found us in the government’s dynamic small business search engine, and that opened the door,” said Larry.

The contract required the Collins find financing quickly to buy equipment and expand their physical plant. They turned to Rackley again for help in updating their financial analysis. She, in turn, introduced them to consultant Josh Walton.

“Josh is a good sounding board,” Gwen said. “He offered us alternate ideas that have since been instrumental to our growth.”

The Collins purchased a 33,000 square foot building for their fabrication shop in late 2017. They also expanded their facility by 15,000 square feet to support their growing precision machine shop. They will soon incorporate a new quality lab and establish new offices to support their growing team.

“Josh is a good sounding board. He offered us alternate ideas that have since been instrumental to our growth.”

Gwen has also attended the SBDC’s GrowSMART® program, where she learned the importance of networking.

“In our industry, traditional marketing isn’t that effective,” she said. “The SBDC brings larger commercial prime companies into their networking events. This provides a matchmaking forum for small businesses to connect with procurement representatives from the large primes and has given us exposure we would not have had otherwise.”

Greene Machine’s sales have grown 44 percent each year for the past three years and employment has grown from 5 to 25. Reflecting this growth, Greene Machine recently filed a DBA name change to Collins Manufacturing Company, further establishing a family legacy for their sons to carry on. 

“We plan to continue to grow and support the Department of Defense as best we can while also focusing our efforts on expanding our commercial customer base,” said Larry. “And we’ll keep in touch with Lisa and the SBDC.”