Skilcraft

Skilcraft – Burlington, KY

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Established in 1965 as a family owned business, Skilcraft is a precision sheet metal fabricator, building components for medical devices and jet engines, totaling $17M in sales, of which 35% is in the Aerospace market.

John Zurborg, one of four owners, has been aware of Ex-Im for years but never really experienced the need for it until he joined Skilraft and entered the aerospace market. He believes Ex-Im is more important today than ever before given global financial volatility since the 2008 recession.

“Conservativeness in lending and other governments’ ability to help industry has left gaps,” said Zurborg. “To have a financing tool to fill those gaps and ensure the finance of large capital purchases is more needed now than in previous years.”

Zurborg believes that the government must help ensure our economy is viable, and that Ex-Im is a key tool to help exports, which directly translates into manufacturing jobs.

“I employ 90 people, 25 are related to aerospace. In the next 3-5 years I see employing 140 employees if the industry grows as anticipated. My company will train people and hire people that will come from the middle class. It will help accomplish the end goal this country needs. For that growth to happen, Ex-Im has a role to play.”