It is as easy as sliced bread. That old saying could not be more of a misnomer about the factory of local niche manufacturer LeMatic Inc. There is nothing simple about the bread-slicing machines assembled at the companys 57,000-square-foot factory in Blackman Township. LeMatic builds automation equipment for wholesale bakeries to slice and package soft-roll products, such as hot dog and hamburger buns.

Some of the intricate bread-slicing machines at LeMatic stretch up to 80 feet long. After being assembled and tested locally, the machines are broken down and shipped throughout the world. LeMatic CEO Dale J. Lecrone, 48, said his companys annual revenue is about $10 million, a large portion of which is reinvested to maintain LeMatics state-of-the-art technology.

LeMatic was founded in 1973 by Lecrones father, Dale S. Lecrone. Many fast-food restaurants, such as McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys, depend on LeMatics equipment for their soft-roll needs, Dale J. Lecrone said. Lecrone said LeMatic does about 30 percent of its business internationally.

As fast food has grown throughout the world, so has our product, Lecrone said. We have got equipment around the world — Saudi Arabia, Japan, China — I think we have equipment in 60-some countries. In addition to slicing equipment, LeMatic also makes orientating, stacking, packaging and cleaning equipment for the baking industry. LeMatics staff of about 50 includes designers, a sales team, an engineering department, a manufacturing group and field-service employees.

Lecrone said his company has been able to succeed over the years, despite a challenging economy, by staying up-to-date with the industrys newest technology. Over the last eight years, we have integrated vision and robotics into our solutions that we can provide, Lecrone said. We can now automate a process in the bakery utilizing mechanical means, or where it warrants, we can utilize robotic and vision. We are utilizing the vision-control technology on one end to do process checks.