LINCOLN – A manufacturing operation that was founded only 20 years after Samuel Slater launched his mill in Rhode Island has been selected winner of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce’s third annual Samuel Slater Award. Arkwright Incorporated, of Fiskeville, manufactures specialty papers and films for desktop printers and copiers. Its film and paper media for large format printing is favored in the creation of display, architectural and engineering graphics.
The Samuel Slater Award will be presented Thursday, May 4 at the Spotlight Under the Dome Legislative Reception at the Rhode Island State House. The award ceremony is part of the R.I. Manufacturing Renaissance Week program.
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The Samuel Slater Award is given to a Rhode Island company whose work emulates the creativity and drive of Samuel Slater, as well as the leadership and support of Slater’s benefactor, Moses Brown. The award was created in 1998 by the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce and its Manufacturers Advisory Council. The Manufacturers Advisory Council is an affiliate group of the Chamber comprised of 14 members all of whom are in the manufacturing industry.
The Samuel Slater Award recognizes the long and proud tradition of manufacturing in Rhode Island and its importance as a force in the state’s economy. The award, while recognizing the contributions of a company, also honors the men and women who are employed there because this award speaks of the unified and cooperative effort of all members of the company. Finalists were visited by the awards committee members who conducted plant tours.
Although the Samuel Slater award is presented by the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, companies need not be Chamber members to apply. Through this award, the Chamber recognizes the important role manufacturing plays in the economic well-being of all Rhode Islanders.
According to members of the selection committee, Arkwright Incorporated’s written application and later, the tour of facility, demonstrated that Samuel Slater’s drive and creativity is flourishing in the company.
Arkwright Incorporated is located at 538 Main St., Fiskeville. James DeWolfe founded Arkwright Incorporated as a textile mill along the banks of the Pawtuxet River in 1810. It has been continuously operating as a manufacturing company at this site ever since. The company was named after Richard Arkwright, the inventor of devices that streamlined the textile-making process. Samuel Slater used many of these inventions in his Pawtucket textile mill.
Arkwright Incorporated evolved through the years from textile to book cloth to drafting cloth manufacturing and presently to the coating and converting of film and paper media for the display graphics and office systems markets.
According to the company’s written application, “The fact that Arkwright Incorporated is approaching its 190th Birthday is a reflection of its resilience as a manufacturing company. This success has come about primarily from three factors. First, significant resources have been invested in aggressive Research & Development programs to develop products before customers even know that they need them. Second, capital has continuously been reinvested in the business to keep manufacturing equipment and processes as state-of-the-art as affordable. And third, the entire workforce is trained and retrained on quality, productivity, environmental and health/safety issues on a continuous basis.”
The application further stated that Arkwright Incorporated has established a Quality Management System that is registered to the IS09001:1994 Standard and an Environmental Management System that is registered to the ISO 14001:1997 Standard.
The company’s goal for the year 2000 is to establish a Health & Safety Management System that will be registered to the OHSAS 18001:1999 Standard.
Arkwright Incorporated, headquartered in Rhode Island, maintains five U.S. manufacturing facilities and distribution centers throughout North America and Europe.
Previous winners of the Samuel Slater Award are: Whittet-Higgins Comp. of Central Falls 1998; and Hefff Jones, Inc. of Prov. – 1999.
