Going global: just five years after ERD first targeted international business, 1 out of 6 customers is based overseas.

• Position: ERD

Today's factories may turn out new, cutting-edge products, but much of the equipment that makes them is anything but. The average age of electronic systems or components used in manufacturing plants is about 14 years old. Equipment used in other industrial settings is equally creaky. For factories and industries in lower-wealth countries, aging components are even more of a concern.

Retooling is so expensive that even Fortune 100 companies usually choose to repair machines or systems that break down rather than buy new ones. Enter industrial-repair companies such as Kernersville-based ERD, which engineer Glenn Flaherty founded in 1995. Flaherty saw an opportunity for a repair company that focused on challenging problems rather than cookie-cutter solutions. The company has earned a reputation as a "think tank" that can troubleshoot complex problems in industrial components such as drives, circuits, motherboards, power supplies and monitors, from assembly lines that use robotics to old-school systems dating from the 1950s, says Tom Robinson, executive vice president.

Until about five years ago, ERD's customer base was primarily in the U.S. Only five of its 2,500 customers were from other countries. Then came what Robinson calls a "reinvention process" and a trip to Atlantic City for a trade expo sponsored by the U.S. Commercial Service, the trade promotion division of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration. Since then, company executives have made five trips overseas and received support from the U.S. Export Assistance Center, including attending its Export University Series training. Even though it doesn't create products that are shipped overseas, ERD is now considered an exporter because it ships repaired products and systems back to its foreign customers.

Today, the company boasts 6,000 customers, including 30 global Fortune 100 companies, notes Robinson. About 1,000 of those customers are from other countries. These international customers, representing 68 countries, account for approximately 25 percent of company revenue. In 2013, about a year after ERD began serving more global customers, it received the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export Achievement Certificate, which recognizes U.S. Commercial Service business clients that have successfully entered new foreign markets.

This summer, Robinson and Flaherty visited Asia with a delegation from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. Stops...