S4J Manufacturing Services, Inc., got its start in precision machining in 1965 and has become one of the nation's top manufacturers of Luer lock connectors, mini quick connects and adapters used in an array of medical equipment. With more than 1,000 customers worldwide, it typically sells direct to original manufacturers of medical equipment and devices for biomedical and laboratory applications.

 

Based in Cape Coral, 85 percent of S4J Manufacturing Services products are made for biomedical applications, and it also creates custom fittings requested for an assortment of purposes, including research and development. The locks and connectors are made with 15 high-tech, computerized machines at the company's manufacturing facility at North Cape Industrial Park, where it moved in 1999. Today, it is run by CEO Doug Gyure, whose father started the company in 1965 in New Jersey. Gyure employs 15 to 17, and his team makes 300 standard products and about 100 custom fittings each year. Lot sizes are from 10 to 100,000 pieces.

 

Because competition is limited and S4J Manufacturing has honed its specialty, Gyure says his company is one of the top  Luer lock manufacturers in the world "without much sales effort on our part." S4J Manufacturing has made them for various competitors that manufacture a broader range of products.

 

Luer locks were invented in the 1800's as a locking connector for glass bottle stoppers in Germany and later developed in the United States for injecting and drawing fluid. They have been used in hypodermic needle syringes, blood pressure cuffs and in angioplasty procedures. S4J Manufacturing Services began making Luer locks in 1973 at the request of one client, and sold primarily to that client for seven years, before marketing to the medical industry. Today, these fittings are one simple component in complex medical equipment and are used in neurosurgical procedures. "We're never the showman. We're that odd little thing that makes that showman just right," says Gyure.

 

As the locks' applications have evolved through the decades, S4J Manufacturing Services has progressed, too, bouncing back several times from downward pressures created by the growing popularity of molded plastics and the disuse of Luer locks in various applications.

 

Gyure says his father was drawn to Southwest Florida for its abundant back-bay fishing opportunities, and relocated the company after New Jersey doubled its state income tax. Gyure appreciates his low-key location. "It's a very good location. It's kind of out of the way, which is what we want. We don't want to be in the limelight," he says.

 

The city's workforce has also been a boon for the business. "The beautiful thing about being a manufacturer in Cape Coral is there's a huge pool of potential employees who live in the Cape," says Gyure, 53. "It's a matter of awakening them to be the next best employee, particularly if you like working with your hands."

 

Gyure, who studied industrial engineering but earned his degree in economics from Rutgers, began sweeping his father's warehouse at the age of 8 and worked his way up. His three kids are in college and beginning their careers. They, too, worked in the warehouse, and one of them may return to carry on the business, but "ask me in 10 years," he quips.

2685 N.E. 9th Ave.  * Cape Coral * 1-888-745-5837 * S4J Website

Russ Winstead, Florida Small Business Development Center

Florida SBDC at FGCU
1020 Cultural Park Blvd., #3
(239) 573-2737
rwinstead@fgcu.edu