THE STORY: For more than 50 years, Mearthane Products Corp. has been making customized, thermoset polyurethane components for customers that range from the defense industry to medical-device makers to fitness and recreation enterprises.
› MPC’s material expertise has allowed it to pioneer polyurethane use for recreational and fitness wheels, leading to a precision-bearing skateboard wheel in 1975
› Mearthane manufactures about half a million wheels each year
› The company has 100 employees and its headquarters is in Cranston
› MPC sees its employees as part of a network, so if you ask them how many people it takes to make one wheel, they say everyone
› Anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 wheels can be made per shift
