ROI Influencers: Manufacturing 2021 (T to Z)

By
ROI-NJ Staff
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The Tailor’s Wife
Berkeley Heights
Employees: 3
Owner: Jo Pravata
The Tailor’s Wife manufactures and sells custom-made clothing by offering fine tailoring services for men, women and children. During the pandemic, the Tailor’s Wife put its talent to work and started manufacturing and donating PPE. With a serious shortage of masks in the early days of the pandemic, the Tailor’s Wife pooled its resources and began making masks while starting a Facebook group: “The Community Mask Factory Volunteer Group.”

Tektite Industries
Trenton
Employees: 9
President: Scott Mele
Tektite Industries is the leading LED flashlight manufacturer in the world, producing products for outdoor, industrial, government and military markets. During the pandemic, it took its commitment to quality to the fight against COVID-19, manufacturing PPE, including face masks and face shields. Tektite is now producing polycarbonate reusable face shields, using specifications provided by Johns Hopkins University. It also is manufacturing disposable face shields made out of Polypropylene. Additionally, it is producing filter fabric face coverings that provide advanced particle filtration. 

Thorlabs Inc.
Newton
Employees: 999
CEO: Alex Cable
A world leader in optics and photonics manufacturing, Thorlabs uses advanced technologies and world-class engineering to produce products that help people overcome some of the world’s most complex challenges. Thorlabs went above and beyond to help during the pandemic, manufacturing and donating PPE, such as gloves and masks, to Newton Medical Center.

Triangle Manufacturing Co. Inc.
Upper Saddle River
Employees: 250
President: Dax Strohmeyer
A leader in the medical device industry, Triangle Manufacturing has been a key during the pandemic. Losing a critical supplier such as Triangle would have caused countless issues in the life sciences supply chain. 

Trinity LLC
Metuchen
Employees: 120
President: Randy Riley
Trinity is a designer of multimaterial LED displays and fixtures that address task, décor and visual in-store lighting for business and retailers worldwide — all of which are manufactured and assembled in its New Jersey facility. Trinity pivoted during the pandemic by making thousands of Sneeze Shields for the world’s largest retailer.


Tri-Tech Tool & Design
South Bound Brook
Employees: 27
President: Art Weber
A custom design, mold engineering and manufacturing company, Tri-Tech Tool and Design serves a wide range of industries, including fluid handling, custom and innovative packaging, electronics, medical products, mechanical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Since injection molding is a critical step in many of the life-saving medical devices used in the pandemic, Tri-Tech was a key manufacturer. Without injection molding, the pharmaceutical supply chain could be disrupted, because packaging would be much more difficult to source

UNEX Conveying Systems
Lakewood
Employees: 65
President: Brian Neuwirth
A long-term material handling equipment manufacturing firm that supplies significant warehouse support for many key firms — including Amazon and Walmart. During the pandemic, this need more than tripled overnight. The UNEX team worked double shifts to keep the goods flowing. Its work behind the scenes is often overlooked.

Unionwear
Newark
Employees: 155
CEO: Mitchell Cahn
Unionwear is the leading manufacturer of union made-in-the-USA hats, bags and binders for the promotional, fashion and uniform markets. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Unionware has stepped forward and shifted production to manufacturing face masks for the frontline health care workers.

VLV Associates Inc.
Whippany
Employees: 3
CEO: Michael Vaillancourt
VLV Associates provides a wide range of services to the health care community, as its manufacturing and development resources offer a versatile response on all levels of product development and production, from concept through to the final product. During the pandemic, it converted one of its production lines to make PPE.

Weiss-Aug
East Hanover
Employees: 165
President: Dieter Weissenrieder
Weiss-Aug has manufactured custom precision metal stampings, moldings and assemblies for more than 40 years. Industries such as automotive, medical, electrical and telecommunications depend on its products and services. Without Weiss-Aug remaining open, these critical supply chains would have experienced even more severe disruptions. 

Westlock Controls Corp.
Saddle Brook
Employees: 182
Plant manager: Dan Bennett
The world’s leading process companies turn to Westlock Controls as their trusted partner in developing better solutions for the future. Through Crane CPE, the Westlock team was able to give back to other essential New Jersey workers. It was the first to donate N95 masks to the Emergency Management Service in Saddle Brook.

ZAGO Manufacturing Co.
Newark
Employees: 24
CEO: Gail Friedberg
An award-winning, family-owned company, ZAGO Manufacturing began over 25 years ago at the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Development Center small business incubator. Operating out of a 100-year-old refurbished factory in Newark, ZAGO assisted in the heightened global demand for ventilators by producing more of its specialty high-tech sealing fasteners, which are essential for the use of the life-saving machines.

Zero Surge Inc.
Frenchtown
Employees: 20
President: James Minadeo
Zero Surge is a manufacturer of failure-free surge protection products that suppress even the worst-case surges. Zero Surge products helped protect critical equipment that was essential in the fight against COVID.

ZEUS Scientific Inc.
Branchburg
Employees: 85
CEO: Scott Tourville
This family-owned life sciences manufacturer produces high-performing, easy-to-use clinical diagnostic solutions to ensure optimal efficiency, accurate diagnosis and better patient care. ZEUS Scientific was on the front line in the fight against COVID-19 as it received emergency use authorization by the EDA for its rapid diagnostic test.