Laconia manufacturer acquired by Connecticut company

BELMONT — Ripley Tools, headquartered in Connecticut but which sells products around the world, has purchased ODM, a small Laconia manufactuer. Ripley is keeping ODM’s operation local, moving into a space on Daniel Webster Highway in Belmont.

Christian Festa, president and chief executive officer of Ripley, visited Belmont to cut the ribbon for the new facility.

Ripley Tools, in business since 1936, bills itself as “the global leader in the design and manufacture of cutting, stripping and cable preparation tools in the fiber optic and telecommunication industries.”

ODM, founded in 2003 as Optical Design Manufacturing, Inc. by Michael Schneider, made its name as a manufacturer of optical power meters, inspection scopes and other hand-held tools used by fiber optic installers.

Festa said that ODM carved out a space for itself in the market by designing tools and software that were compact and customized to the customer’s needs.

“The tools are simple, smaller, easier-handling,” he said. While the competition’s tool might be the size of a large cell phone, he said, ODM’s is the size of a pen.

With the acquisition, ODM is moving its design and production from Lake Street in Laconia to the 4,500-square-foot facility in Belmont. The number of employees is increasingly slightly, from 12 to 14, and Festa said there’s potential for ODM to grow, thanks to the Ripley sales network.

“ODM used to sell only in the United States. ODM now has the ability to sell everywhere we sell,” said Festa.

Ripley provides tools to customers both domestic and international, including Europe and Asia.

“We manufacture here in the U.S. and sell in China,” Festa said.

Despite its global operation, Ripley thought it best to keep ODM in the Lakes Region so it could continue to employ the talents that brought the business this far.

“The core of the technology, the engineers, are here,” he said.