Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 16, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 15 M A N U F A C T U R I N G F O C U S W Jeffco Fibres seeks constant improvement for portfolio BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer I f you've ever gotten a good night's sleep, there's a good chance you slept on foam from Jeffco Fibres. e company, based in Webster, manufactures foam products primarily for foam mattresses and pillows. For cer- tain products, the company has its own cut-and-sew operation in house. It's not only foam coming out of Jef- fco's facilities: e company makes and trades organic wool and Kevlar used in bulletproof vests. Some of the company's foam material is even used in packaging. Foam for the packaging industry is a commodity item, and it's really the same material across different manufacturers, but it's Jeffco's service and technical ex- pertise that sets them apart, said Charlie Pious, president of Unicorr Packaging Group's Putnam division in Worcester. "You can buy the same foam from four or five other companies in New En- gland," Pious said. "We do business with them because of the way they support and service us." Jeffco can accommodate emergency orders when Unicorr's customers are pressuring them, Pious said. Unicorr is a family operation, as is Jeffco. "It's nice to know you're talking to people that arent working for a corpo- rate office 1,000 miles away," Pious said. Jeffco's foam team has grown by 40 percent, and hundreds of hours have been dedicated to training, said Eric Lonstein, president of the company's foam division. at growth includes new national contracts in the consumer product space, including with ecommerce mat- tress and mattress topper brands. "People oen say the mattress and toppers we produce really help their quality of life, sleep and health," he said. "at's something that really motivates us to keep going and keep trying to improve our cra." Along with that growth is a constant innovation to become as efficient as possible, including becoming a lean manufacturing company thanks to a workforce development grant and a two- year program with the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership. "We're going to make lean more and more a part of our DNA," Lonstein said. at transformation into a more modern manufacturing operations includes significant capital investments to increase capacity, he said. Manufacturing Excellence Award, LARGE COMPANY Jeffco Fibres, Webster Industry subsector: Polyurethae foam, mattress, furniture & bedding, textiles Top executive: President & CEO Eric Lonstein Founded: 1971 Employees: About 150 Going the distance: If you took the foam Jeffco processed in a year and lined it up, piece-by-piece, the foam would extend from Webster to Thailand. The team members at Jeffco strive to accomplish two things: Take care of customers to the best of their ability and improve each day. Optim reveals hidden places BY LIVIA GERSHON Special to the Worcester Business Journal Manufacturing Excellence Award, SMALL COMPANY Optim LLC, Sturbridge Industry subsector: Medical device manufacturing Top executive: President & CEO Douglas Hughes Founded: 1971 Employees: 50 Thwarting criminals: Optim's website maintains a Bust Meter showing its FreedomView products have contributed to the seizure of more than $30 million in contraband. Optim applied its endoscopy technology to help law enforcement use cameras to see in hard-to-reach places. W hether you're a doctor who needs to look for a polyp inside a patient's throat or a law enforce- ment officer who has to check a car's gas tank for contraband, you might rely on technology created in Sturbridge by 47-year-old company Optim LLC. "We're providing the ability for people to see in places that the eye can't normally see with superior lighting and visualization," said Douglas Hughes, Optim's president and CEO. Optim considers itself a medical device company, focusing on its ENTity endoscopy systems, which let medical providers look inside ears, noses and throats, hunt for irregularities, and even observe vocal cords moving as a way of understanding speech pathologies. But the company extends its technol- ogy to other fields. It works with clients like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on its FreedomView line of products for search procedures, and provides component parts for other equipment manufacturers. "One of the advantages we have as a company because we do medical and non-medical things, we extend that big emphasis on quality that medical devices require to non-medical security prod- ucts," Hughes said. Optim has grown steadily over the past five years both in terms of sales and employees, Hughes said. e firm sells to a variety of markets in the U.S., and to countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. When one sector is slow, another makes up the difference. e company's seven-person en- gineering staff is continually making improvements to its products. One example is a video screen to replace the eyepiece on the FreedomView devices, allowing security personnel to look inside hidden compartments while stil monitoring what's around them. Optim's employees are constantly developing new solutions for custom- ers' needs, said Anthony Cappabianca, business development manager for the medical division of SCHOTT North America Inc. Lighting and Imaging in Southbridge, which partners with the company on various projects. "We've seen, especially in the last few years, a real focus within their group to really develop new things," he said. Part of that may be due to the expe- rienced staff at Optim. e company provides ongoing professional develop- ment opportunities, as well as tuition reimbursement for workers continuing their education in the field. W

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