
PBN Manufacturing Awards 2024
MEET THE MAKERS: Bel Air Finishing Supply Corp.
RALPH ALVITI HAD a simple request of his son, Steven, back in the mid-1970s when the Alvitis were operating a manufacturing plant in Providence: Find a better way to smooth out the rough edges of the jewelry pieces their company was churning out.
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They didn’t know it at the time, but Steven Alviti Sr.’s minor upgrade in finishing the products ensured that their company survived after a mass exodus of the state’s jewelry sector, and it laid the foundation for Bel Air Finishing Supply Corp.’s work today.
“That’s where we came from,” Steven Alviti Jr., grandson of Ralph Alviti, said recently. “We started by making equipment to do it rather than doing it by hand. And now we make fully robotic systems. You can see the evolution of everything here.”
Bel Air is now a North Kingstown-based manufacturer and supplier of mass finishing machines, equipment that other factories use in the last steps of making parts that require precision work. Today, Bel Air produces a range of finishing machines, including tumblers, vibratory bowls and centrifugal disc finishers, which polish and deburr intricate parts.
The company’s equipment is used by various manufacturers to ensure their components are application-ready. Clients include industries from aerospace to additive manufacturing, where Bel Air’s machines help refine 3D-printed parts.
In the 1990s, Bel Air expanded internationally, distributing its equipment worldwide. The company moved to the Quonset Industrial Park in 2007 and later acquired a media and compound manufacturer in Connecticut to enhance its product offerings.
Despite facing challenges such as the rise of foreign knockoffs and inflationary pressures, Bel Air remains profitable and continues to invest in research and development. With 15 employees and a network of local contractors, the company emphasizes high-quality production and enduring partnerships. It also maintains a diverse customer base, catering to small businesses and large corporations such as General Electric Co.
One constant for Bel Air is that it is family-owned. Founder Ralph Alviti stepped down from running the company years ago, and Steven Alviti Sr. took the reins. But Ralph Alviti continued to work at Bel Air into his old age even though he no longer had to.
He died in 2022, “a 50-year-old in a 92-year-old body,” said Steven Alviti Jr. “He died at his workbench.”