Jerit supplied the order—one he had chased for years—in record time, running production in his 13,000-square-foot Shelby County manufacturing facility 16 hours a day over a 40-day period to fill the three-and-a-half semi-truckload order.

It’s a far cry from APO’s earliest days when Jerit drove cross-country to civic fireworks displays hawking his full arsenal of optic wares from a van. Breaking free of that nomadic lifestyle came only as the result of a full solar eclipse.

It was 1991 when Corona beer contacted Jerit offering him his big break—an order for six million specialty glasses—for a promotion timed around the arrival of an eclipse visible throughout Mexico and Hawaii.

“I went from pretty much ready to throw in the towel to having enough money to grow the business,” Jerit says.

From 1990 revenue of $125,000, the company has topped $10 million in recent years. Clients through the years have ranged from the makers of the Nightmare on Elm Street series to National Geographic magazine, which ordered 20 million glasses to view 3-D images from Mars Rover expeditions and Titanic wreckage in 1998.

Future growth hinges in part on the better margins Jerit squeezes from innovative (and retail-friendly) optic products he either owns or controls as licensee. Among them are ChromaDepth, which transforms color images into 3-D, and HoloSpex, which when exposed to light project designable 3-D holographic images before the user’s eyes. “Same paper, same printing, same die-cutting, same gluing, same labor, different optic,” Jerit says. “And if there’s only one place in the world to get it, which is us, we pretty much command the price.”

Growth may also come through more standard channels. Hotshot Hollywood movie director James Cameron recently stated his belief that the movie industry must emphasize digital 3D to curb declining revenues and piracy. And between 3-D films now in theaters (Meet the Robinsons) or planned for the near future (Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf, to feature Angelina Jolie’s lips in 3D), Hollywood seems to be listening. Simultaneously, hundreds of cinemas nationwide are being retrofitted for digital 3D viewing (including another 75 owned by Knoxville-based Regal Entertainment Group). It’s a trend on which one of Tennessee’s most novel companies is well positioned to capitalize.
Feedback: ruble@businesstn.com

In the News

Collierville
Massachusetts-based packaging and label solutions provider CCL Label will finish construction of an $18 million, 120,000-square-foot facility in Progress Road Business Park this summer, completing the relocation of its local operations to Collierville.

Desoto County, Miss.
DeSoto County tourism officials are mulling a potential $30 to $35 million expansion of the local Civic Center, perhaps to include a 175-room hotel tower as well as meeting space appropriate for statewide conventions, creating an affordable option to certain mid-sized Memphis venues like the ballrooms at The Peabody.

Seven-year-old Clarksdale, Miss.-based Covenant Bank built a $3.5 million DeSoto County branch becoming the 20th financial institution to launch a retail banking presence in that fast-growing community just south of Memphis.

Dyersburg
Vestar Capital Partners, a private equity firm, purchased Utah-based Huish Detergents, the largest manufacturer of private label laundry detergent and fabric softeners in North America, which has a significant operation in Dyersburg. According to Vestar, employees will not be affected by the transaction.

Germantown
Mississippi-based M&F Bank, which bought Bells, Tenn.-based Crockett County Bancshares in 2005, announced plans to construct a Tennessee corporate headquarters in Germantown.

Millington
The Corps of Engineers announced that it would establish its Logistics Activity Center at the Naval Support Activity Mid-South base in Millington and employ around 120 people. Millington is already home to the Corps’ Finance Center, which employs 200 people.

Paris
Commercial Bank & Trust opened a loan production office in fast-growing DeSoto County, Miss., and also opened its first branch in Jackson, Tenn. CB&T has assets of $489 million and a total of nine offices, including two in Union City and three in Memphis, where it ranks as the 25th largest bank based on deposits of $114.3 million. Southaven, Miss. The 384-unit apartment complex Civic Center Phase II, the last large multifamily site approved in Southaven, was sold to New York-based Somerset Partners. Terms weren’t disclosed. Blake Pera, Tommy Bronson III and Steve Rudesill with CB Richard Ellis represented the seller, Civic Center Apartments Phase II LLC.

Union City
Illinois-based Mi-Jack Products, through its affiliated company Greenfield Products, announced plans to move and expand part of its engineering and manufacturing operations to Obion County, creating up to 85 new jobs over the next three years. The multinational company manufactures parts for material handling systems.

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