Manufacturer - Providence Business News

WORKFORCE PIPELINE: Mechanics work in one of Electric Boat’s metal fabrication “fixtures” used to build frames that reinforce a submarine’s pressure hull.  COURTESY GENERAL DYNAMICS ELECTRIC BOAT

EB’s investment in local schools is paying off

Editorial and Op-Ed 07/17/2026

When General Dynamics Electric Boat organized its first high school signing event for new hires in 2022, seven graduates agreed to work at the...

ON THE MOVE: Stephan Vaast, Comet’s head of manufacturing and design, says the company moved into its current location at Unity Park in Bristol just a few months ago. Boards had been made on the West Coast for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Comet to make a change.  PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Meet the Makers: Bristol-based skateboard manufacturer is picking up momentum

Digital Special Editions 11/21/2025

The air is thick with the smell of maple inside Comet Skateboards Inc.’s Bristol factory as Stephan Vaast oversees the pressing and cutting of...

Meet the Makers: Bristol-based skateboard manufacturer is picking up momentum

Manufacturing 06/20/2025

(Editor’s note: This is the 34th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...

East Providence manufacturer to lay off 205 employees, close plant

Economic Activity 08/02/2024

EAST PROVIDENCE – Hundreds of employees at an East Providence manufacturer are set to be laid off as the company plans to close its...

SHARING  THE LOAD: igus Bearings Inc. spokesman Mike Rielly, with one of the company’s collaborative robots, or co-bots, that it produces.  PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Robots will eliminate jobs but create new ones too

Editorial and Op-Ed 07/19/2024

Unions are understandably worried about job losses that will come as manufacturers turn to technology to curb costs and improve production and efficiency. There’s no...

MAKING IT WORK: Randy Snow, vice president of jewelry maker Snow Findings Co. in Warwick, says part of the reason he got into the industry and took on the family business, founded by his grandfather in 1951, was to learn from his father, who was the owner and operator before handing the reins over to his son, and to preserve and continue what his family had built over the years. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Meet the Makers: In R.I.’s jewelry sector, Snow Findings is a...

Economy 11/24/2023

(Editor’s note: This is the 15th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...

AstroNova sees profit widen to $848K in Q1

Economic Activity 06/08/2023

PROVIDENCE – AstroNova Inc. on Thursday reported a profit of $848,000 in the company’s fiscal first quarter, or 11 cents per diluted share, up...

TIGHTKNIT OPERATION: Employee Maria Monteiro works on a rug at Rhody Rug Inc.’s manufacturing facility in Lincoln. The company produces 1,500 braided rugs per week and supplies hundreds of rug dealers nationwide, says President Scott Weldon. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Where braided rugs are rolling out the door by thousands

Economy 03/17/2023

(Editor’s note: This is the seventh installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...