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This 132-year-old company has lit a glowing welcome for millions who visit buildings, malls, restaurants, parks and other well-traveled but tastefully decorated public places. Their popular lighting fixtures, poles and accessories in traditional or modern designs have been the obvious choice of architects, designers and commercial property owners.

After completing still another record year of growth, IMET Corporation’s President Tom Krol remains confident of continued success in 2014 for his electronics contract manufacturing company and now shares that optimism in IMET’s year-end forecast. He bases much of his optimism on the trend to “re-shoring”–a term used to describe the ever-growing number of American businesses that have moved their manufacturing back to the United States after discovering that the cost differential of doing contract manufacturing offshore is no longer viable. Patriotism aside, Mr. Krol cites sharply rising foreign workers’ incomes and standard of living that no longer make their country a haven for cheap third-world labor. Trans-oceanic shipping costs have greatly increased as well. “Those factors, combined with security issues and the high cost of maintaining supervisory personnel overseas, have caused the great awakening to re-shoring,” he stated.

IMET Corporation, a contract manufacturer providing electronics engineering services and printed circuit board assembly, has received the 31st annual Manufacturer of The Year Excellence Award by The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The presentation, recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of the region’s small businesses, took place at the awards dinner on November 20 in downtown Philadelphia’s Crystal Tea Room. In order to qualify for the award, a company must be independently owned and operated, and display excellence and authority in their industry, while not exceeding 100 employees.

When a busload of students from Eisenhower Science & Technology Leadership Academy arrived at IMET’s front door the morning of October 2, its 30 passengers expected nothing more than another boring plant tour. Little did those 12 to 13-year-olds from this Norristown, PA charter school know they were in for a real surprise. After donning electrostatic-proof lab coats, they learned of the numerous rewarding career opportunities in electronics contract manufacturing. They were then divided into two rotating groups – one portion getting introduced to IMET’s vast array of automated and robotic machinery used in contract electronics manufacturing, while the others remained behind to test their skills on a new and remarkable pinball game: “Wizard of Oz”, with the sights, sounds and songs of the original movie. The amusement device houses 56 printed circuit boards assembled in IMET’s 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Southampton, PA. The kids couldn’t get enough of The Wizard – that is, until the pizzas arrived. All agreed it was their best school tour ever.

IMET, an electronics assembly and contract manufacturer in Southampton, PA is now one of the fastest-growing companies in America after they were named to the Inc. 5000 list. Inc. magazine annually features the fastest growing private companies in the country, and IMET Corporation was positioned within the top 3,000 firms while landing No. 91 in the top 100 Pennsylvania companies and took home No. 75 in the Philadelphia Metro area.

Ask Glendalys Pedraza why she’s delighted with being the Quality Control Leader of IMET’s contract manufacturing facility and a person will likely to be barraged with answers. “Where else is there an opportunity that’s this interesting, important and challenging?” she’ll say. “Here’s where I serve as the chief detective and final gatekeeper of the multitude of PCBs that we routinely inspect daily. So in a way, I guess you could call me ‘Chairwoman of the Board’.”

Some people attending trade-shows just can’t wait to meet Robo, IMET Corporation’s mascot. Well-known for product development, the company is gaining added fame from a robotic cat that can do most things that a real live feline can. Granted, Robo is not yet on the same level of fame as Justin Beiber or Taylor Swift, but trade-show attendees and IMET customers can agree that a new mini-star is born -- and even receives occasional fan mail as well.

Take an iconic movie from the 1930s. Add a contract manufacturing company in Southampton and allow a couple of rock stars to become attached. What results from that odd mixture could be anybody’s guess, but in this case it’s “Wizard of Oz™,” a groundbreaking and highly anticipated new pinball game that’s shattering every preconceived notion of what these electronic amusement devices can do.

Exhibitors at trade shows go out of their way to make their products stand out and rise above competition. One company that goes more than a step beyond in achieving that goal is IMET Corporation of Southampton, PA. IMET’s booth showcases many products that underscore its versatility as a contract manufacturer and its expertise as an electronics product development specialist. But one item that says it best is -- of all things -- a white robotic cat that when petted, will purr, meow, wag its tail, open and close its eyes – or even do an occasional rollover.

In the 1990’s and beyond, the one glaring factor that greatly influenced U.S. high-tech companies to move their manufacturing to China was significantly lower costs. So great was the dollar differential between “Made in the U.S.A.” vs. “Made in China” that the obvious flaws in this arrangement – excessive freight costs, uncertain deliveries and weakened security – could be ignored. Back then there was no patriotic fervor to keep business here: the economy was booming and employment was strong enough to eliminate concerns about the rehiring of furloughed workers. However, in the past five years, there’s been a gradual shift in the conditions that originally fueled the “China Syndrome.” For this reason, IMET is now offering their product development services to those businesses that have recently shifted back to manufacturing their products in the Unites States.