Tribune Chronicle / Virginia Shank Xiangen Hu, chairman of CW Group, center, discusses CW Bearing’s recent acquisition of Drake Manufacturing in Champion with Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda, right. Hu’s assistant, Leon Jiang, left, helps the Chinese businessman translate his comments into English.

CHAMPION — The new owners of Drake Manufacturing Inc., along with longstanding company leaders, described CW Bearing’s recent acquisition of the local plant as an opportunity to restore and expand the 45-year-old business.

For starters, Drake will continue operating at its plant at 4371 N. Leavitt Road NW in Champion and the business has recalled about a dozen workers who were laid off this summer during the transition to new ownership, explained John Lirong Hu, president / CEO of China-based CW Bearing, owner of CW North America and the new president of Drake. His plans, he said, include bringing Drake to the next level of modern technology.

“This is a new day for Drake and a new day for CW Bearing,” he told employees, local officials and company leaders who gathered for a Wednesday morning ribbon cutting at the plant. “This is a good opportunity for a new start, a new beginning, but with the same great traditions.”

Drake Manufacturing Inc. was sold in a court-approved receivership to Drake Manufacturing Acquisition LLC, a subsidiary of CW North America Inc. The parent company of CW, which makes and distributes ball bearings, Cixing Group Co., was founded in 1984 and is a privately owned corporation based in Ningbo, China.

Drake, a global designer and builder of production systems for manufacturers of parts with threads, was established in 1972 by John Drake.

Stig Mowatt-Larssen, who has been with the company more 30 years and is continuing as its chief technology officer, said the business that started in its founder’s basement has been at its current location since 1976. The plant has undergone several expansions. The new owners are looking to buy nearby property and add more space in the near future.

Company leaders said the plant, which now has nearly 50 employees, will continue to operate as an engineering-oriented manufacturer.

Mowatt-Larssen said Drake, which sends at least 50 percent of its machines overseas, first sent one to China in 2002.

At one point, the company had more than 100 employees and at its peak shipped overseas more than 50 machines in a year. After John Drake retired in 2007, a group of five long-term employees, including Mowatt-Larssen, bought the business and decided to focus on thread grinders and expand international sales.

In 2014, Drake was sold to New York-based Uni-World Capital, but sales fell off, Mowatt-Larssen said.

Earlier this year, First National Bank of Pennsylvania filed a federal civil action asking for a receiver to be appointed to manage the company and its properties. The bank claimed Drake had defaulted on its credit agreement and failed to repay the bank what it was owed.

In April, Compass Advisory Partners LLC of Pittsburgh was named the receiver and appointed to manage the business .

“As a group of employees we’re excited about the opportunity to work with CW Bearing,” Mowatt-Larssen said. “We have always overcome adversity with the help of our philosophy that gets us through good and bad times, and helps us make decisions. We build good machines using advanced technology and highly skilled individuals, we are customer driven, we treat our customers and employees with respect and we do the right thing.”

The $2.1 million purchase was made through an asset acquisition following the three-month receivership. The purchase was approved Aug. 8 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Bruce Dibble, Drake’s director of sales and marketing, said the time when employees were unsure of their future has passed as the new owners get Drake “to where we want to be and bring us back to where we know we can be.”

“We went through some tough times over last four or five months … we had some times of indecisiveness where we weren’t sure of our future but that has passed now,” Dibble said. “We can be sure of the new future we have.”

vshank@tribtoday.com