By Mary Beth Roach
A manufacturing engineering firm in Fulton is in the business to provide support to companies that need additional resources
Jim Brooker has combined his engineering expertise, a network of industry contacts and the opportunity of space in a new incubator center in Fulton to launch his Starlight MFG Solutions LLC full-time about 18 months ago.
President of the business, Brooker has described it as “a manufacturing engineering firm specializing in custom automation to serve as an outsourced engineering support for companies that need additional resources.”
He sees his business as filling a niche. Since his customers are relatively small operations, having in-house automation, engineering and development teams are not feasible.
“I opened Starlight MFG Solutions LLC to provide the same manufacturing engineering support to other companies throughout the state,” he explained.
Brooker also noted that the company’s specialties include “robotics, vision inspection and guidance, rotary-indexing workcells, dispense systems, laser marking, machine tending and more.” And they are certified integrators for Epson, Motoman and Fanuc robots.
A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, he had worked for Motorola in Buffalo and Otis Technology in Phoenix.
“I was vice president of engineering at Otis Technology at their Phoenix location until they closed that facility due to a shift in business at the end of 2023,” he said.
While at Otis, he was also working on Starlight on a part-time basis.
With his years in the industry and his expertise, he had been able to establish contacts that have helped him develop a customer base. And when Michelle Shatrau, president and CEO of N.E.T. and Die offered him space in the manufacturing plant that she was vacating on Foster Street in Fulton, it was a game-changer. N.E.T. and Die has moved to a larger location at River Glen Plaza and Shatrau is planning to transition the Foster Street location to the Oswego County Manufacturing Incubation Center.
This location helped Brooker meet one of his challenges. Since retail space would not be conducive to his operation, the 1,000-square-foot area at the incubator center offered at a reasonable price, Brooker said, was what he needed. He has been operating out of there since early 2024.
Right now, Brooker only has two part-time employees, both colleagues of his from Otis that he said, bring well-rounded skill sets to their work.
He himself is handling sales and the overall operation of the manufacturing processes and he is learning how to balance all the various responsibilities.
But he said he’s surprised at how much he enjoys the sales aspect of the job.
The work is “very relationship-driven,” he said, explaining that much of it is based on referrals from other customers.
“That’s why we’ve seen the growth that we have the past year,” he said.
Is he surprised at its growth?
“I’m relieved. I’m scared,” he said, with a smile. “I think I’m surprised on the traction that we’ve gotten thus far.”
As far as growing the company, Brooker said he wants to “keep control. I want it to be very intentional. I’m trying to make it a sustainable business that can partner with local manufacturers to help them.” He said he is also in the process of bringing someone in full-time.
Keeping it local is important to Brooker. He said he tries as much as he can to get materials that are locally-sourced or made in the United States.
He is quick to credit others with the success he is finding in his new enterprise.
“Nothing comes from just me. I’ve had a lot of people that have supported me,” he said.
