In the middle of the Tercat Tool & Die Co. factory floor stuffed with equipment, the steady click of a power press fills the room. The press spits out metal tags the size of a fingernail stamped with the Sorrelli jewelry-company name. Eventually, they will attach to jewelry.
Twenty-five years ago more than a dozen of these machines would have run for hours straight as Tercat produced millions of small metal components each year for Rhode Island’s thriving jewelry industry. But the decline of the industry in the state has forced Tercat to reinvent itself as a slimmer, more specialized company.
“If it wasn’t for the fact I dove into other markets I would have been suffering and going out of business,” said company President Joseph Terino Jr., whose father founded the company in 1941.
The aggressive pursuit of new markets has been a hallmark of Terino since he officially arrived at the company in 1968. An avid reader of trade publications, he saw competitors using machines Tercat already owned to produce nonjewelry components. The company soon started making commemorative coins, pieces for pet collars and parts for military equipment.
Such products fueled a rapid growth of the company that had moved to Delaine Street in Providence from the city’s Federal Hill neighborhood in 1954.
The company built two additions – one each in 1975 and 1990 – to keep pace with the work. At its height the company employed 108 people, ran two shifts and sent out truckloads of products each week.
“And then China [emerged],” Terino said.
Starting in the 1990s, Chinese factories copied American-made components and produced them at a fraction of the cost. (Terino likes to point out Chinese companies also saved on research costs borne by the American inventors.)
So Tercat switched to selling only products made by automated equipment to save on labor costs and today employs 28 people. The company traded orders for millions of pieces for orders of just a few thousand. It stopped bringing original designs to market for fear Chinese factories would duplicate them and then undercut Tercat prices.
And jewelry components no longer dominate Tercat’s sales. Today, the company manufactures guitar picks for Hard Rock Café, woodstove nameplates for Lennox and metal components for startup clothing designers. On a recent day in September Terino was readying to meet with a handbag designer.
Tercat releases an annual digital catalog listing some of the roughly 25,000 items the company can produce. Custom token for a toll booth? Check. Commemorative coin for a fallen police officer? Check. Gift token for a brothel? Tercat has done that, too. Can’t find what you need? Chances are Tercat can build a tool to do it.
Thousands of custom tools fill shelves upon shelves of the factory. Some date back to when Terino’s father, Joseph Terino Sr., starting building them in the family’s North Providence garage while employed at Blacher Brothers, a Providence jewelry maker. He set out with a co-worker, Louis Catladi, to form their own business in 1941. The two combined their last names and came up with Tercat. Later Catladi would set out to start his own company, and Tercat pressed ahead.
The younger Terino arrived at the plant at the ripe old age of 9, sweeping floors and tagging along on deliveries during school vacations. Over the years, he spent time in every department.
“I’ve never been afraid to work,” said Terino, a former U.S. Marine. “I’ve run every singe piece of equipment in this plant.”
And Terino stands by his company’s work. Need a second opinion? Ask the U.S. Secret Service and FBI. Agents once showed up at the plant to complain Tercat’s replica 19th-century coins were a little too good-looking and savvy criminals were passing them off as the real deal. They ordered him to stamp “copy” on the back of coins.
Meeting the agents also produced a great cocktail party story and Terino said the business offers many of them. Indeed, he said it’s the people he meets and the relationships he builds that keep him coming to work every day. His work has taken him on sales trips around the world while his company’s ability to produce custom products attracts young, innovative designers looking for the next big thing.
“In life it’s great when you meet nice people,” Terino said. •
COMPANY PROFILE
TERCAT TOOL & DIE CO.
OWNER: Joseph Terino Jr.
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Metal stamping and tool-making company
LOCATION: 31 Delaine St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: 28
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1941
ANNUAL SALES: $1 million to $5 million
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