Look back: Laser cutter helps Weedsport manufacturer bounce back

At Leonardi Manufacturing in Weedsport, a pinhead-size laser light travels across a sheet of metal, cutting out an intricate pattern faster and smoother than an X-Acto knife cuts paper.

In fact, the laser cuts straight lines, swirls and sharp angle points better than an X-Acto knife cuts paper.

Ezio Leonardi Jr. pauses to check on the operation. His work was done earlier when he programmed the laser's cutting directions with a series of trigonometric, geometric and algebraic formulations written on X and Y axes. The computer program language is precise, simple enough for a laser beam to understand even though the human brain is amazed beyond comprehension.

Leonardi Manufacturing installed the laser cutter in 1989 and has been the only plant in the area to offer laser capabilities. "But we won't be the only ones for long," President Ezio Leonardi Sr. said. "We know others are coming into the area soon. Syracuse, maybe. Rochester for sure."

The laser cutter was a lifesaver for a floundering manufacturer when Leonardi's original line — women's purse frames — was lost to Korean manufacturers.

In the late '70s, "when South Korea was granted a most favored nation status," Leonardi said, the U.S. handbag industry went from 76 percent of the world's supply to 23 percent. South Korea took over the manufacture of handbags.

Up until that time, Leonardi Manufacturing was selling $2 million a year in handbag frames. The frames accounted for 95 percent of their business.

With a great deal of effort and the expenditure necessary to retool and acquire machines that would equip the plant to move into a competitive position in the contract metal parts field, Ezio Leonardi and his brother Salvatore, vice president, have brought the business back.

— Compiled by David Wilcox

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