MVEDP highlights UMI performance

PHILIPSBURG — Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership is partnered with many businesses throughout the Moshannon Valley region.

The MVEDP Spotlight on Business features are intended to provide the public with additional information about the businesses that call this area home.

This week’s Spotlight on Business feature is UMI Performance, located on Hemlock St. in Philipsburg.

UMI Performance, Inc. was started in late 2002, and officially incorporated in May 2003. The company is owned by Ryan Kirkwood and is located in Rush Township at the site of the former Shain Shop and Bilt plant.

Their facility is approximately 35,000 square feet and the company currently employs 49 people.

Just nine years ago, the company employed 30 people, so the company is continuing to grow to meet market and customer demands. UMI’s has customers internationally as well.

UMI Performance is a leader in the automotive aftermarket industry, specializing in the manufacturing of high-performance suspension components and accessories. The company manufactures sway bars, control arms, subframe connectors, chassis parts and many others.

It was in 2002 when Kirkwood began to build a few automobile chassis components for friends while working in his father’s machine shop.

He began to identify a large demand for suspension and chassis products and he believed that the market was lacking options and full of highly priced items that he thought he could manufacture at a more reasonable cost.

According to the MVEDP and Kirkwood himself, he has a great team at his company including Jill Irwin, Chief Financial Officer, Ramey Womer, Product Engineer, Jerry Mondock, Plant Manager and Marshal Aloi, Inventory and Plant Manager. Kirkwood credits the quality of his team with enabling the company to grow and handle changes in market conditions.

The UMI Performance facility features CNC machining, both milling and turning CNCs, band sawing, press brake operation, MIG and TIG welding, plasma cutting and powder coating.

The company manufactures their products from start to finish; from raw 24-foot bars of tubing to a finished products, all within their manufacturing facility in Philipsburg.

The company also takes pride in its place in the Made in America movement.

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