Before the pandemic, Karl Wadensten was known as Rhode Island’s king of lean manufacturing. And no one who knows the outspoken CEO and president of Richmond’s VIBCO Inc. was surprised to see him immediately take a leadership role in the manufacturing community once COVID-19 hit.
“Karl is the poster child for what the manufacturing sector stands for,” David M. Chenevert, Rhode Island Manufacturers Association executive director, told PBN in 2021.
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Wadensten was among the first manufacturers in the state to create blueprints for how to safely operate manufacturing facilities during the crisis. He readily shared them with the association and hundreds of other manufacturers, which helped the industry continue operating throughout the pandemic.
His selfless efforts during the crisis helped earn him PBN’s 2021 Manufacturing Champion award, based on the glowing recommendations of local manufacturing groups.
He’s long represented the industry at the state level too, as a widely respected member of the board of R.I. Commerce Corp.
Wadensten’s father, Ted, started the company in New Jersey before moving it to Rhode Island in 1974. Karl took over as CEO in 1991.
He became an early practitioner of lean manufacturing, which emphasizes efficiency to maximize productivity and minimize waste, for the company’s production of industrial, transportation and construction vibrators.
“We listen to the voices [of the customers] and that’s been the key for us,” he told PBN in 2019.
