LEOMINSTER- In, the span of a season, Fosta-Tek has doubled both the number of employees and its sales: not too shabby for a company that barely survived the knife of liquidators.

In August 1990, the Foster Grant Corp. declared bankruptcy, leaving customers, creditors and hundreds of employees twisting in the wind waiting to see what would become of the fallen optics giant.

Almost one year later to the day, the Technical Products Division of Foster Grant was sold to Fosta-Tek Optics, Inc., a newly-created company headed by John Morrison Jr., President and majority stockholder.

In August 1991, the embryonic Fosta-Tek company employed approximately 45 employees, all former Foster-Grant employees, and enjoyed $3 million sales. Today, the company has doubled in size to 90 employees and a net sales of about $6-7 million. "That's fantastic growth in a bad economy," said Director of Manufacturing, Chet Fantozzi, a Foster Grant veteran of 34 years.

Fantozzi said he and Director of Product Engineering, James LeBlanc, a Foster Grant veteran of 26 years, tried to interest 37 different companies in purchasing the division during the year of bankruptcy. Nobody, neither banks, venture capitalists or investors, was interested.

LeBlanc and Fantozzi struggled to keep the division afloat until a buyer could be found, staving off the trustees, who wanted to liquidate the business. This meant maintaining a customer base, but as Fantozzi explained, "Nobody wants to commit to a bankrupt company.

The two however, did succeed in getting Morrison to commit to the division.

Morrison credits the division's survival largely to LeBlanc and Fantozzi, "They showed that the business had the potential to be successful," he said. "They kept the division afloat while the company was in bankruptcy."

He also has high hopes for the fledgling company "This business has so much potential," he said. "We have every opportunity to be a $20 million company with 200 employees in four years. We want to be the leading optical company in Massachusetts and New England."

The Minnesota native said teamwork is essential in maintaining a dedicated, innovative and productive workforce. Besides sitting in on every interview, Morrison said he encourages all employees to make suggestions on improving the methods, atmosphere or products at Fosta-Tek. "Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas," he said.

The military is the company's single biggest customer. Despite military budget cuts. Morrison said Fosta-Tek will continue to do well because of its exclusive concentration on conventional equipment. The budget axe, he said, will fall largely on nuclear forces and exotic weapons systems like stealth bombers.

Nonetheless, Morrison said he hopes to balance the Company's reliance on military contracts with other sectors of the business. "The gulf war created good will, but you can't build a business on one customer" he said.