Sunday, September 20, 2026

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HANDIWORK: Tool maker Bobby Bianca operates a milling machine on the production floor at Warwick Hanger Co. in Westerly. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

MEET THE MAKERS: Westerly factory specializes in crucial, mostly concealed, construction...

(Editor’s note: This is the 41st installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s ­unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...
WHAT’S IN STORE: Rachel Grady, an Ocean State Job Lot floor associate, stocks the shelves at the discount chain’s Johnston store. The company says its holiday hiring started in October this year. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Holiday hiring headache: ’Tis the season of uncertainty in search for...

Boutique owner Karen Beebe spent weeks trying to hire just one extra person ahead of this year’s holiday shopping season. For 19 years, Beebe’s shop,...
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...
WORK ­ENVIRONMENT: Independent journalist Steve Ahlquist taps out a story on his laptop at the ­Rochambeau Library in Providence. He’s covered social issues for a few small local blogs and now publishes on the digital platform Substack. 
PBN PHOTO/
MICHAEL SALERNO

BROKEN NEWS? Outlets in search of sustainable community journalism model

Tapping away at his laptop at the Rochambeau Library in Providence, Steve Ahlquist doesn’t look the part of a pioneer. He began reporting on Rhode...
TESTING: Brewer Matt Von ­Holten, foreground, and cellarman Eric Gonzalez, who oversees the day-to-day post-brewing processes, test the wort – the liquid ­extracted from the mashing process when brewing beer – at The Guild Brewery in Pawtucket.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

SOBER REFLECTION: With the craft beer boom over, breweries look...

Matthew Gray has cleared many hurdles to keep Ragged Island Brewing Co. running. And the obstacles are still coming. Gray opened Ragged Island Brewing with...
THE 
NEW 
HUB: 
The entrance of the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Johnston. The 3.8 million-square-foot building has left its mark on the town. 
COURTESY 
AMAZON.COM INC.

THE ‘AMAZON EFFECT’: Warehouse looms over Johnston, but will it fulfill...

Making way for Amazon.com Inc. has been no easy feat for the town of Johnston since the e-commerce giant opened a 3.8 million-square-foot fulfillment...
OVERSEER: The Miriam Hospital President Maria Ducharme talks about the construction planned at the hospital for the next few years. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

HOSPITAL MAKEOVERS: Health systems look for shot in the arm from...

The administrative wing of The Miriam Hospital on Providence’s East Side is a mess these days, and hospital President Maria Ducharme couldn’t be happier...
STEELY GAZE: Noel Laflamme, a technician at metal fabricator Ward’s Manufacturing LLC in Warren, measures the thickness of a steel plate as he prepares for a job in the workshop. 
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

CRACKS IN THE METTLE | PBN survey: R.I. businesses remain resilient,...

When siblings Kelly and Kiffin Ward co-founded their Warren metal fabrication business, Ward’s Manufacturing LLC, in early 2024, they set out with a vision...
FEELING UNEASY: Ironworkers Dorian Costa, left, and Oronde Hale have been working on the construction of Vineyard Wind out of the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, visible in the background. But they’re now concerned about the future of the offshore wind industry. 
PBN PHOTO/
MICHAEL SALERNO

FADING PROMISE: Trump orders take toll on regional wind industry; will...

It was a breezy summer afternoon at Quonset Point in North Kingstown when tradesmen Lucileno Gomes and Antonio Gianfrancesco clocked out after their shift...
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