PBN Manufacturing Awards 2022
OVERALL EXCELLENCE AT A SMALL MANUFACTURER:
Snow Findings Co.
At 71 years old, West Warwick-based Snow Findings Co. has managed industry shakeups by embracing new technologies and new products.
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The company manufactures a wide array of stamped metal settings for jewelry and provides stone setting, linking and toolmaking services for the jewelry industry.
“Being a small business and not having lots of overhead and not having many employees allows us to be more nimble through the years to change what we do,” said Vice President Randy Snow, a grandson of company founder William Snow. “We pivot without having to move mountains to make that happen, [and] keeping overhead low has allowed us to weather difficult times without huge capital expenditures.”
President Bob Snow, who is Randy’s father, said, “Years ago, Providence was the jewelry capital of the country, and now there are very few companies left. We had to expand into making magnetic jewelry clasps to stay alive.”
Popular among hobbyists, the magnetic clasps are sold directly to consumers and wholesalers, Randy Snow said. However, the use of Snow Findings’ products by iconic jewelry companies such as Swarovski is declining as those companies navigate the ever-changing world market.
Word-of-mouth, rather than advertising or e-commerce, drives customers’ interest in the company’s products. With no current capacity for internet sales, Randy Snow anticipates bringing the company’s catalog online soon to establish an e-commerce channel.
“Most of the people who did what we do are gone, so we have a corner on some of the market,” Bob Snow said.
“I think [the business] has been declining dramatically through the last 30 years, but we’re actually in a great position to be the last holdout in some of these areas that will always have some demand,” Randy Snow added.
Embracing modern technology allows the company to stay relevant. While Bob Snow, now 79, was brought up “old school” by making tools via time-consuming and labor-intensive mechanical methods, his son is embracing modern technology such as computer numeric controlled equipment, which produces tools with speed and precision that couldn’t be achieved in the earlier days.
“Using the CNC is so time efficient and enables us to do so many different processes,” Randy Snow said. “We can offer services to other companies that don’t have that technology in-house. We can basically machine anything, from auto parts to one-of-a-kind machine parts for hobbyists.”
With only five employees and ample workspace, the company says meeting COVID-19 safety protocols wasn’t a challenge. Most of the company’s supplies are sourced domestically. Nonetheless, Snow Findings experienced some pandemic-related delivery delays, but “strategic ordering helped us coast through without disruption,” Randy Snow said.
“Finding and keeping employees has been challenging, given the lack of education and demand for … this trade,” he continued. “In the last eight years, we’ve had [several] people who I thought could be trained, [but] they didn’t work out.”
Bob Snow and his son manage most of the toolmaking processes, given that work’s complexity. The three other employees are cross-trained in all the assembly processes. In past years, some employees spent careers at the company, working there for more than 40 years.
If founder William Snow were to see the company today, he’d be surprised by “the changes in machinery, technology and what we actually make today,” said Bob Snow, who joined the company to work for his father after serving in the U.S. Navy.
“At my age, getting used to new technology is tough,” he said. “I’ve been here 58 years and I’m finding it hard to get into new technology. Randy’s here and he’s trying to teach me; whether it sinks in or not, that’s another story.”
Having joined the company after running his own construction company, Randy Snow said, “I sure hope I’m not the last one to lock the doors. I hope my changes and guidance will be enough to guide us back to some success so that there’s another generation here to run the company.”
