Hemant and Shaila Rao Mistry have mastered the art of designing and manufacturing user interfaces and control panels of everyday products.

"We live in a technology world, and everything we use requires an interface, and basically that interface is something we can make," said Shaila, the president of Corona-based Jayco. "To me that is our marketplace, whether it's a remote control, a wall oven, a GPS device, a medical or laboratory instrument or a secure entry keypad; it could be any electronic device you use."

But what the company designs and manufactures is not just a simple set of buttons. It identifies a product and how it works and reveals its utility and function, said Hemant, the CEO of Jayco.

Hemant's father, Dhansuk Mistry, founded parent company Jayco Interface Technology as a membrane switch manufacturer in 1980. The industry was in its infancy at that time, and Jayco soon evolved into a company known for manufacturing switches for computers, communications equipment, navigation devices and medical instruments.

Hemant joined the company in 1984 and further expanded the company's offerings to other products within the user-interface market. Jayco MMI was formed in 1992 to develop international strategic operations for the company.

"While others went to look for vendors or suppliers we went out and formed strategic alliances, a lot of research to find the right companies to partner with, partners in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and China," Hemant said.

The company still maintains many of the working relationships established before Jayco MMI was created. All design aspects and detailed engineering are completed at the company's 23,000-square-foot Corona headquarters, while some manufacturing is delegated to partner companies overseas.

The economy has also impacted the company by an estimated 20 percent over the past year. Many of the industries the company operates in have been hit hard, such as the appliance industry. Some appliance companies have seen a 50 percent drop in sales.

Jayco's involvement in many industries has cushioned the blow. The company, though small, has a diversified customer base and designs and manufactures products in the medical, military, aerospace and security communications industry.

"It's very important to understand though we're a small company we have the resources of a large company," Hemant said. "The benefits of being small are that we're nimble, we're agile, we can respond very fast to requirements, and, in terms of getting the product to the customer very quickly, we're very well able to do that, while at the same time we can produce very large amounts of products at very short notice without the burden of very heavy infrastructure cost."

The company recently joined the Riverside Tech CEO Forum, a group that provides networking opportunities and a single voice for local high-tech companies.

"I think the high-tech community here in the Inland Empire is still relatively small. I want to do our part to see it grow," Hemant said. "I wanted to take part in the forum to learn what other companies are doing, networking to see how we can help each other and see how we can help the high-tech community grow, because if it grows, it helps us all."

The company would be happy to see 20 percent or 30 percent growth in the next year with expectations the economy will turn around soon. It is also seeing a greater reliance on suppliers to provide services to their customers while most customers used to do their own designing.

The company has received numerous awards over the years. Most recently, AutoDesk, a computer-aided design software company, named it "Inventor of the Month." It also received an award from the American Electronics Association for its innovative design of an electronic flight bag control panel. The company also recently received certification through the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, allowing it to participate in defense projects, which must be controlled and manufactured in the United States.