Ponderay-based Cygnus celebrates 20 years of business

PONDERAY - Twenty years after founding Cygnus Inc., owner Jack Ambrosiani said the company is in great shape, which he credits to a strong foundation of ethical business practices.

The company, which manufactures sheet metal parts and assemblies for the aerospace industry, was built around what Ambrosiani calls his code of ethics.

Condensed, the 10-part code reflects a desire to live and work with absolute trust, honesty, cooperation, efficiency and responsibility. Ambrosiani said by steadfastly following the code, he has been able to build solid relationships with his customers and his 93-person staff.

"We believe in absolute ethics of following the correct path to do things, and it's proven to be a wonderful success story for us," Ambrosiani said.

Ambrosiani said he hasn't made significant changes to the company's business operations throughout the years, and it's been that reliability and consistency that helped Cygnus earn the trust of its clients.

"We've just stayed the course, relative to that code of ethics of no white lies, no little lies. We'll tell you the answer and you might not like the answer, but we'll try to present it in as honest and caring manner as we can."

Even as the country slides into an uncertain economic future with growing global competition, Ambrosiani is confident that Cygnus will continue on its successful path. To stay competitive, Ambrosiani offers his employees strong benefit packages that include retirement plans and profit sharing.

"We're still at zero debt, we have money in the bank, we're growing 15 percent a year and I expect that to continue even into this recession," he said.