Pete Kaczmarek | Mearthane Products Corp. president
My career has taken me from large corporations to middle-market businesses with internationally dispersed operations, and now to Mearthane Products Corp., a 75-person manufacturer with two facilities in Rhode Island.
I’ve always wanted to see if the lessons I’ve learned (usually through hard knocks) could be successfully applied to small manufacturing companies. I joined Mearthane in 2016 and began to explore two of those lessons: talented teamwork and supportive networks.
The first is simple – surround yourself with talented, ethical people who are strong where you are not. Help them to develop a shared vision and focus on team performance instead of individual success.
Today, I am part of a cohesive team that is a potent blend of skilled, long-term employees and newcomers with great ideas.
The second lesson – supportive networks – is about making your company part of a connected web of resources that help you be more successful than you could be alone.
In Mearthane’s case, that network starts with state and federal resources such as R.I. Commerce Corp., Polaris MEP, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Rhode Island’s universities. I have found that Rhode Island has a wealth of resources that have helped us increase our exports to more than 50 percent of our production and accelerated our growth. It starts with reaching outside the company and being open to good ideas and support wherever they come from.
Mearthane is proof of the viability of those two principles – talented teamwork and supportive networks – for companies of all sizes.