Friday, September 4, 2026

TOPICS

Manufacturing

Beacon Design earns Best Customized Gift Supplier and Best American-Made Gifts...

LINCOLN – Beacon Design by ChemArt announced its recognition as winner of the Best American-Made Gifts (for the second year in a row) and...

5 R.I. companies earn HIRE Vets Medallion Award

PROVIDENCE – Five Rhode Island companies have each earned a 2025 HIRE Vets Medallion Award, the only federal-level veterans employment award given by the U.S. Department...

VIBCO’s Elf on the Shelf tradition more than just holiday fun

This time of year hits different at VIBCO Inc.  Yes, we’re a real manufacturing company that has deadlines tighter than Santa’s chimney clearance and face...
STRING SKILLS: Machine operator Maria Dacruz works on the production floor of Neocorp Inc., a standard and technical rope and bungee cord maker in Pawtucket. Neocorp is among the local manufacturers that have dealt with inflated tariffs in 2025. 
PBN PHOTO/
MICHAEL SALERNO

THE TOLL OF TARIFFS: Factories under strain as they try to...

If there was one thing Rose Wood had been able to count on as a buyer at Pawtucket manufacturer Neocorp Inc., it was that...
FINAL TOUCHES: Manufacturing technician Noel Laflamme sets up a job on the laser cutter at metal fabricator Ward’s Manufacturing LLC in Warren.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

For Ward’s, survival of tariffs required complete overhaul of business

Less than a year ago, Kelly Ward, co-founder and president of Ward’s Manufacturing LLC, envisioned that the company would be spending the spring and...

Job openings listed for Hasbro’s temporary Boston office

PAWTUCKET – Hasbro Inc. appears to be accelerating its move to the Boston Seaport. As of Wednesday, 16 of the company’s 170 current job listings...

R.I. losing more than a business with closure of another foundry 

Rhode Island is losing another one. Friends Foundry Inc. in Woonsocket, VIBCO Inc.’s casting partner since 1974, announced it will cease operations on Jan. 31....
CHILLING: Robert Swift, owner and president of East Bay Ice Co. in East Providence, is pictured with some of the ice blocks the company produces. Swift says his company is unique, as it’s one of about four or five block ice plants left in the United States.
PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Meet the Makers: An ice factory that refuses to melt away

(Editor’s note: This is the 39th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...
MILESTONE: Sisters Marcia, left, and Julie Blount lead the Blount Boats Inc. shipyard in Warren, which was founded by their father and recently celebrated its 75th ­anniversary.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Meet the Makers: Warren shipyard has navigated the waters of boat-building...

Sisters Marcia and Julie Blount grew up watching their father, Luther Blount, sketch boat designs on napkins. Those sketches became real vessels at Blount...
TRIAL AND ERROR: Alejandro Martinez, Mearthane Products Corp.’s marketing director, shows some experimental moldings in the company’s development lab inside its Cranston headquarters. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Meet the Makers: Moment of ingenuity helped Mearthane to continue rolling

In more ways than one, Cranston-based Mear-thane Products Corp. has proved to be the ultimate spinoff company over the last 60 years. The company was...
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