Amerisewn
Collaboration in Manufacturing | 2019 Manufacturing Awards
Cranston-based Amerisewn has collaboration woven through its corporate structure – working with customers, other Ocean State manufacturers and its employees to yield the best results for all. A recent success came about after the company worked closely with one of its customers, listening and responding with a custom solution.
It’s Okay Not to Be Okay: Why We Need to Talk About Maternal Mental Health
Q&A with Megin Dalton, MD, Center for Women’s Health at South County Health Each May,…
Learn More
The stitched-product division of Rhode Island-based Desmark Industries, Amerisewn designs and makes protective clothing – such as riot gear – for the military, law enforcement and corrections fields. One of its latest products caters to those working in the mental health industry.
The Ukeru brand of protective body pads for those working with potentially violent people in mental health facilities was the result of the Virginia-based Grafton Integrated Health Network’s need for threat-specific pads that protect both patient and worker.
“This was us collaborating with a customer, Grafton,” said Layne Mayer, director of Amerisewn’s strategic growth. “They do the marketing, but it’s up to us to solve their problems. We develop a product and they test it out and send it back and make changes. It’s an ongoing dialogue.”
Previously, Mayer said, mental health workers were using a “mishmash of sporting goods” as protective devices, which were often heavy and not designed for institutional environments.
‘We connect as much as we can with companies in the state.’
LAYNE MAYER, Amerisewn director of strategic growth
The Ukeru line now has seven products, each customized for a certain environment, threat and patient type. The products are used in 23 states. “The pads have dramatically reduced injury, workers’ compensation policy costs and employee turnover, for a total return on investment of [more than] $16 million, as tracked by Grafton,” according to a statement by Amerisewn.
When it needs help in creating top-quality protective gear that meets its high standards, the company doesn’t stop trying. Instead, it reaches out.
Amerisewn ran into some roadblocks in creating a stab-resistant riot suit, for example, unable to find the correct materials it needed.
It contacted Goodwin-Bradley Pattern Co. in Providence, which suggested that Concordia Fibers in Coventry, another manufacturer, also join the conversation. Now, the molded panels for a stab-resistant riot suit and prototype components are being developed by Goodwin-Bradley, with Concordia making the fiber component; Amerisewn is developing the specifications and end use.
“We all look at it together, keep price and performance where they need to be, as well as weight and manufacturability,” said Mayer. “It becomes team-thinking.”
The collaborative project with Concordia and Goodwin-Bradley is in the research-and-development phase, as is a project Amerisewn is working on with Cranston’s Mearthane Products Corp.
Mayer said the collaboration with Mearthane came about when another company that makes a component Amerisewn uses in its products – a specialized, moldable urethane foam – decided to move its manufacturing overseas. The company had difficulty finding a United States supplier. It began talking with Mearthane, which is now working on the foam in tandem with Amerisewn.
“We connect as much as we can with companies in the state,” said Mayer. “When we need something, we start in Rhode Island. We definitely believe in getting Rhode Island companies to work together; there is camaraderie in that.”
The company is also doing materials-research work with the University of Rhode Island.
Amerisewn believes in being part of the manufacturing community, active in groups such as the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, and taking advantage of resources such as the Small Business Development Center and Governor’s Workforce Board training grants.
The number of employees at the company has doubled over the past two years since it rebranded as Amerisewn, said Mayer. The company’s sense of camaraderie and collaboration is also a facet of its internal operations.
“The factory workers, especially, are a definite community,” she said. Company employees contribute to problem-solving, continuous-improvement efforts and even recruiting. “When we hire, people bring in cousins or friends [to apply] if they have someone they know who is willing to learn and be in a collaborative work environment,” said Mayer.
