PBN Manufacturing Awards 2022
EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCT INNOVATION & DESIGN:
Optrel Inc.
Whether it is manufacturing products for health care workers or for welders, Optrel Inc. is looking to create something new that isn’t already available on the market.
The company is on a mission “to be the innovation leader in everything we do, it’s as simple as that,” CEO Grant Cooper said. “We just try to find better ways to make products to make people’s lives more productive, safer, healthier.”
Optrel, which focuses on manufacturing equipment for industrial and health care needs, has witnessed a change in the products that the company produces over the last few years, and understandably so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were primarily focused on industrial protection leading up to the pandemic. And I always like to say we went from talking to welders on a Friday to doctors on a Monday,” Cooper said. “Since the pandemic started, we’ve really transitioned into products that are more health care friendly.”
One of the company’s greatest recent releases was the introduction of a clear NIOSH-approved N95 face mask, the first of its kind in the world. The product allows the wearer’s facial expressions to be seen, which can improve accessibility and facilitate communication.
“A common complaint you receive all the time with a traditional N95 no matter what occupation you had, or if you were just someone walking down the street, was that it made communication difficult,” said Jeff Morris, Optrel’s business development specialist.
Another benefit?
“It’s nice to see a smile sometimes,” Cooper said.
From ideation stage to submitting for approval, the process of creating the clear N95 mask took about nine months, Cooper says, which is far quicker than the timespan for most of Optrel’s products. He says most take a few years before they’re ready to hit the market.
But gaining a foothold in the health care industry hasn’t been without its challenges.
“Health care is a challenging industry because a lot of people are set in their ways, a lot of these products require fit testing and things like that where people don’t want to have to change products,” Cooper said. “A lot of … time is spent working, trying to get a stronghold into the health care industry.”
Optrel operates with a small, seven-person team in Rhode Island.
“But we’re looking to add,” Cooper said.
Morris, who started at the company in January, said Optrel has an “open-door policy, and everyone’s kind of on the same level here. So, everyone’s ideas are heard, no matter who you are. The culture allows for everyone to speak their mind pretty much. And that plays into the innovation. Everyone is encouraged to speak their ideas.”
Optrel, which has an East Greenwich office and a manufacturing facility in Switzerland, has been bringing its ideas to Rhode Islanders and making efforts to become more involved in the business and tech communities locally.
Cooper says Optrel has been collaborating with the New England Institute of Technology in terms of donating welding products to the school and has also joined the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association.
“Even though we are headquartered in Switzerland, we’re truly a Rhode Island-based company,” Cooper said. “And we are really looking to expand our presence within Rhode Island and become more of a community member than we have in the past. Our focus has always been on a national scale, but we’re really trying to do some things locally to help the community.”
During the fall, Optrel is gearing up to unveil a new product at the Atlanta convention Fabtech in November. Cooper hints that it “gives workers everything they’ve ever really asked for in a welding helmet.”
Optrel is working to put new products in people’s hands.
For Morris, Optrel is about “getting out there in the field and having that face-to-face time. It’s one thing to read about a product online, but it’s another to actually have [it] in your hands.”
