Centerline One of Fastest Growing Industries in Ponca City

Ponca City News

One of the fastest growing industries in Ponca City is Centerline Inc., which is doubling the size of its present plant. The firm makes and repairs precision spindles and has increased in size five times since it was established at Pioneer Technology’s incubator in October 1994.

A spindle is actually a small machine sitting in a big machine and doing all the work. Centerline repairs spindles as small as dental equipment and as large as aircraft and automotives.

Some of the better known companies the Ponca City firm does business with are Boeing, Raytheon, Ford Motor Company, Grainger, 3M and American Airlines.

Engster says there is a possibility that Centerline could end up as the authorized dealer and repair facility for the Midwest for GMN of Germany. This company is the largest spindle manufacturer for high tech spindles in the world.

Currently the company, owned and operated by Michael A. Engster and son, Stephan, is in the process of building a new addition at it’s plant at 2110 North Ash Street.

Last year the firm did about two and a half million dollars in sales. The company currently employees 19 and the payroll is about $600,000.

With the new expansion will come more equipment and more employees, according to Engster. This will mean a need for more skilled employees. Engster said it takes about two years of training on the job for employees to become skilled.

Some of the company’s new equipment includes computer design which can be worked on in the plant and with a client at a distance. Which beats the drafting board, Engster says.

In 1995 Centerline Inc., received the Incubator Tenant of the Year, award from the Oklahoma Incubator Association.

The company was named the Small Industry of the Year in 1998, by the Ponca City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Active in the community, Engster is a member of the Ponca City Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and a member of Pioneer Area Vo-Tech Advisory Board.

The new addition will include an expanding assembly area, which has a “clean room,” an engineering department and inspection and testing area.

Centerline has a web site at www.Centerline-inc. com. Other advertising is through the Thomas Register directory and various trade publications.