Manufactures in the region that supply the medical industry fared well in 2020. MilliporeSigma in Jaffrey and Smiths Medical in Keene are both actively hiring.

By Meghan Pierce, Granite State News Collaborative

Innovation and the ability to pivot and adapt to the changing marketplace became more important than ever before for manufacturers in 2020. Many Monadnock Region manufacturers predict growth in production in 2021 because of the pandemic and the varying demands it has created.

  “It was an unconventional year, and it was a challenging year, but it was a good year,” notes Whitney Brothers Company President Mike Jablonski.

  The Keene manufacturer specializes in school and early education furniture. Jablonski credits the company’s success in 2020 to his employees for developing a new line of Plexiglas dividers and marketing the new product as well as already existing classroom furniture — that had wildflowers and tree prints on acrylic panels that could serve as protection — to serve the new pandemic marketplace.

  “We knew that there was competition, people that do nothing but Plexiglas glass dividers,” he says. “It’s helped our company, but it also helped our customers because there was a demand. There was that need that needed to be filled.”

  Sales did drop at one point in 2020, Jablonski notes, but instead of laying off any of his 50 employees, he had them focus on making stock.

  “I feel an obligation to them as their employer, to do my best to keep their employment going,” he says. “They all had choices for where to work, and they chose Whitney Brothers, and I feel an obligation to keep that employment going.”

  Focusing on inventory paid off, he says. “Luckily, when business came back, we had inventory on hand. … There was a huge dip and then a huge rise upward.”

  He estimates Whitney Brothers’ year will be down about 10% over 2019. However, because he didn’t lay off any employees — and instead focused on new designs, building stock and customer service — Whitney Brothers is in a great position for growth.

  “I think 2021 will be a modest year. But it will be a good year,” Jablonski says.

  Bradford Machine Company and Swiss Precision Turning, Inc. are both Brattleboro, Vermont, manufacturers that make metal parts for aerospace, optical and medical device industries.

  “We used to make quite a bit of aircraft industry parts. That’s down quite a bit,” Swiss Precision founder and owner Willy Buhlmann notes. “They stopped building planes. People aren’t flying, so they don’t need spare parts.”

  But because the manufactures that Swiss Precision supplies shifted with the changing COVID-19 market, Buhlmann says, his shop was in demand for different parts.

  “We’ve been lucky. We’ve had a very good year. We made a lot of parts for the ventilators,” Buhlmann says.

  Swiss Precision employs about 20 people and kept busy making valves to control ventilators and parts for microscopes, he notes.

  “We were just able to hold steady because of all the additional work for the COVID-19, so we didn’t have to lay off anybody, which is good,” Buhlmann says. “We don’t like the COVID, but it kept us in business.”

  Business at Swiss Precision was up about 5% in 2020 over 2019, Buhlmann notes. However, he predicts that it will drop down the same 5% in 2021.

  Jim Hayssen, owner of Bradford Machine Company, says his company had a similar experience.

  “The effect of the pandemic was mixed depending on the customer and the product line, but the end result of it was not terribly significant one way or another,” Hayssen says. “We had one medical device company that did very poorly because all of their devices were used in elective surgery and that all dried up.”

  Although sales were down about 10 to 15% — all in the second half of the year — new orders kept the shop busy. And with the new customers and business generated during the downturn, Hayssen expects a prosperous 2021.

  “We expect to grow from where we were in 2020, but I don’t know if that necessarily translates into hiring,” he notes, adding he avoided laying off of any of his 40 employees when there was less work. “I avoided doing that; that’s why we can grow next year and don’t have to hire anyone cause we’re a little heavier than we need to be.”

  Manufactures in the region that supply the medical industry also fared well in 2020. MilliporeSigma in Jaffrey and Smiths Medical in Keene are both actively hiring.

  MilliporeSigma added 195 employees in Jaffrey in 2020, reaching its current employment number of 1,140 employees, according to MilliporeSigma spokeswoman Karen Tiano. And plans to grow continue: “In Jaffrey alone, we plan to hire some 275 people by 2022,” she notes.

  “The COVID-19 pandemic proved challenging, as we were not able to recruit as we normally have in the past,” Tiana says. “This year, we had to look at alternative methods, including drive-through, on-site job fairs, virtual job fairs.”

  The MilliporeSigma plant in Jaffrey is part of a global life science company. Tiano says that before the pandemic — and still today — the company’s Jaffrey site was, and still is, producing filtration devices and membrane products. Biopharmaceutical companies use these products to manufacture vaccines and lifesaving therapies.

  “The devices we make here in Jaffrey remove virus, contaminants and bacteria throughout many steps in the biomanufacturing process,” says Tiano. “These products are part of the standard process for making vaccines.”

  Smiths Medical is also a global manufacturer. The Keene facility is a high producer of hypodermic needles, which were in high demand in 2020 and will continue to be in high demand, notes Darren Hodkinson, regional U.S. director of operations.

  “The hypodermic needle is a very general product,” needed for various medical applications, Hodkinson says. “The volume that we’re making for the COVID response is 125 million units annually.”

  The plant also makes infusion pumps for ventilators and breathing tubes for people treated in hospitals for COVID-19.

  Smiths Medical in Keene had 290 employees at the start of 2020; over the course of the year, the company about 60 people for a total of 350 employees heading into 2021. Hodkinson says the company is actively seeking new employees and would like to hire about 55 people in 2021.

  “We’re so grateful to have these employment opportunities for people in the Keene area and community. It’s exciting. And we’re hiring across the board,” Hodkinson says. “We’re open to all shifts, and we can be flexible on hours if that’s helpful to people.”

  Employees have a great sense of purpose in the pandemic, Hodkinson notes, they are working alongside government agencies to ensure the needles are ready as vaccine companies need them.

  “Obviously, people are excited and proud to be working toward the COVID response,” he says.

  Tim Steele, owner of Microspec in Peterborough, says his company had seen continual growth since he founded the company in 1989 up until 2020 hit. The company has made a name for itself for making complex medial tubing, often used in elective surgery.

  “The first six months of the year [2020] were record-breaking for us,” Steele notes.

  Then the pandemic shut down elective surgery across the country, and demand for Microspec products dropped. The company soon made a recovery focusing on product development.

  “Our new prototype development boomed,” Steele says. “We have an expertise that has a high demand, and our clients come to us because they can’t develop the extrusion tube that they need in the time that we can supply it.”

  Steele also notes the pediatric device business has remained strong.

  “We do a lot of pediatric catheter tubing, and that has remained strong, so apparently when kids get sick, it’s not elective, and they don’t hold back on using the products we make,” Steele says.

  In the end, Microspec brought in “99.3% of the previous year’s gross revenue, which was disappointing but commendable with everything going on around us,” he says. “An optimistic prediction for Microspec in 2021 is I can see a 15% increase in business, which is pretty good. If it weren’t for COVID, I’d be predicting 25 to 30%.”

  Steele says he is basing his prediction on two new products: One for diabetes and one for inhalation therapy, which is directly related to the COVID treatment — a nitrous oxide therapy aimed at healing lungs.

  “This will help your lungs recover, and it’s used a lot in pediatrics too. Infants born as preemies, nitrous oxide use is very common for them.”

  While these manufacturers found a way in 2020, New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc. in Peterborough struggled during the pandemic’s shut down of the aerospace industry.

  “The major downturn in the commercial aerospace market caused by the pandemic affected all three of NHBB’s manufacturing divisions [Peterborough and Laconia, New Hampshire; Chatsworth, CA] in 2020 as we endured order cancellations and delays from our customers,” the company said in a statement.

  The Peterborough plant manufactures high precision ball and cylindrical roller bearings for commercial and military aerospace customers.

  “Looking ahead to 2021, we anticipate the defense industry to remain stable and the commercial aerospace business to begin a slow recovery,” according to the company statement.

  “While 2020 was certainly one for the history books, we are extremely optimistic about our prospects for 2021,” Dan Lemieux, NHBB’s president, wrote in a statement. “As vaccines begin to be distributed to the general public, we expect that people will begin flying again and demand for new aircraft will be reinvigorated. NHBB is prepared to ramp up production quickly to meet that demand.”

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.