THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608070101
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 51 lines
Portsmouth Tool and Die Corp., a 46-year-old company, is looking into the 21st century.
``The Internet is the place to be for commerce,'' sales and marketing manager W.L. ``Gabbo'' Galbreath said Tuesday. ``Last January, we embarked on the future. We began with e-mail and on June 23 we got a page on the Internet.''
Galbreath recently attended a seminar sponsored by Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology and the Northern Virginia Technology Council in Herndon. Portsmouth Tool and Die is one of 30 companies affiliated with SEVAnet, an experimental on-line community based at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.
``SEVAnet is a lot more than a connection to Internet,'' Galbreath said. ``They've shown us how to create a presence.''
Portsmouth Tool and Die, located on Florida Avenue in Port Norfolk, was started in 1950 and purchased in 1967 by James E. and Connie Woodruff.
The company has 23 employees. It designs and builds automated machinery. Galbreath said about 25 percent of the business is custom work and the other 75 percent is created by the job shop.
Galbreath said the company has benefited greatly from the research aspects of being on-line.
He cited the speed in locating information. Recently, the company was looking for a part but had an invalid phone number for someone who might supply it.
``We were stymied until we went on the Internet,'' he said. ``Within a few minutes, we had 10 numbers.''
He said it's too early for the company to have a measure of actual bottom line benefits but, he added, the future would be shaky without involvement with the network.
Galbreath said he and his co-workers had no expertise about Internet.
``But it's all so easy - even for old dogs like me,'' he said. ``It's so exciting and it has enormous potential for companies like this one.''
SEVAnet will double in size to 60 businesses this year, according to Bill Winter, a Christopher Newport administrator.
In addition, SEVAnet will house the Hampton Roads Technology Alliance, a partnership of 10 high tech associations. The alliance was formed to increase the flow of information among the organizations and to serve as a single point of contact for technology and business issues that affect the region. ILLUSTRATION: Steve Jordan of the Smithfield Companies, left, and
W.L. ``Gabbo'' Galbreath meet with Bill Winter of Christopher
Newport University, home of SEVAnet. by CNB