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Rochester's Morrell Manufacturing & Development Inc. continues to build parts for several international brands, including Hummer and BMW. Video story by Todd Clausen.

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Len Morrell on the shop floor at his company, Morrell Manufacturing & Development Inc., in Rochester.(Photo: SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Buy Photo

Story HighlightsRochester’s Morrell Manufacturing & Development has worked itself into a lucrative contract.CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINEMAILMORE

Unless there’s a loud rattle, probably not much thought goes into the mechanics of an BMW X5 as it purrs down the highway.

The vehicle’s all-wheel xDrive system seamlessly transfers power from the rear to the front axle with the help of a transfer case cover and housing, intricately machined parts with more than 200 dimensions built to precise tolerances by Rochester-based Morrell Manufacturing & Development Inc.

“The trick to these parts is to minimize vibration,” said Len Morrell, president and owner of the small Silver Street manufacturer. “Vibration is the biggest enemy to machines. If it vibrates enough, it falls apart. So you got to minimize vibration and you do that by making very precise parts.”

The company is in a midst of a contract that could be worth $3.5 million when all told and will keep his crews, along with other work, busy for the next couple of years, he said. MM&D landed the deal after working with a subsidiary to Chrysler in Syracuse that was having trouble controlling the vibration of the part used in some models of BMW, military-style Hummers, Ford Explorers and Jeep Grand Cherokees.

“They were having a horrendous time,” said Morrell, who drove out to Syracuse to learn more about the production of the part, discovered an issue with its outer ring gear assembly that created the issue and headed back home.

The next day he found a truck with about 10,000 forgings outside his shop door and in about two weeks the company began turning out 1,000 units a week.

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Morrell Manufacturing & Development, Inc. located at the end of Silver Street in Rochester Monday, July 13, 2015. (Photo: SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Morrell launched MM&D in 1993 as a consulting firm specializing in engineering, lean manufacturing, quality and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. For ten years, Morrell put in hours at various jobs as product engineer, director of sales and as a consultant while trying to build the business at night in a pair of blue jeans and T-shirt. An associate handled the daytime operations.

“It became apparent to me pretty quickly when I started that I couldn’t continue to grow the business and take a salary,” he said. “There wasn’t enough money. We were very small, we were very naive and still learning a lot about the business world.”

He mortgaged his home, put retirement savings into the business and began to lease machines instead of buying new ones. After a couple years, the company began making shafts for the industrial pumps industry. About 5,000 shafts a year. Total revenues struggled to reach six figures.

“We were the turtle, not the hare,” Morrell said. “I took that approach to it because too many of my friends in business had grown too fast. There are a lot of people in our industry that aren’t here anymore. They went bankrupt.”

It was after fixing the issue with the transfer cases about 12 years ago for New Venture Gear in Syracuse that MM&D started gaining more work in the field. New Venture started as a joint venture of the Big Three U.S. automakers to produce transmissions and was later bought by Canada’s Magna Powertain.

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Mike McNerney of Rochester sets up a milling machine for another process on a large casing at Morrell Manufacturing & Development, Inc. in Rochester Monday, July 13, 2015. (Photo: SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

But the success was short lived when the company also lost a lot of work when suppliers cut back on orders or moved work to China when the recession hit about eight years ago. It also was when vehicle sales took a hit.

It forced Morrell, an Irondequoit High School graduate, to find new partners with Universal Instruments, Superwinch, Magnetic Technologies and other companies that allowed MM&D to keep the lights on. Magna also called on the MM&D to help with machining casting, eventually awarded the local firm all the work.

The company employees 10 people, which includes some part-time workers. It’s annual sales are less than $1 million, but the company expects further growth in the upcoming months.

“Most of what I do is problem solving,” he said. “There are ten ways to do a part, but then there is the most efficient, most profitable and most quality conscious way and you have to come up with that amongst all your competitors to win the Media a glance

Company: Morrell Manufacturing & Development Inc.

Founded: 1993.

Employers: 10. 4 full-time; 6 part-time.

Location: 19 Silver St.

Executives: Len Morrell, president and owner.