Tag: Manufacturing and Logistics

CP Cases Moving to Delaware to Expand

Written on . Posted in Press Releases.

Global Protective Case Manufacturer CP Cases Chooses Delaware for Relocation, Growth of U.S. Operations

WILMINGTON, Del.  – CP Cases Inc., which designs and manufactures high-performance protective cases and racks used to support industries ranging from broadcasting to defense, has chosen Frankford, Delaware, as the new site for its U.S. operations.

CP Cases USA, which was opened in 2013 by the owner of a similar company in the United Kingdom, will move from an 8,000-square-foot site in Bishopville, Maryland, to a 25,000-square-foot site in Frankford Business Park, which is located along Route 113. The company will bring nine current employees to the Sussex County location and plans to create 16 new jobs there over the next three years.

Delaware Ideal for High-Performance Protective Cases and Racks Manufacturer

“Delaware provides a great environment for small businesses, and we are glad that CP Cases chose to relocate their manufacturing facility to Frankford,” said Governor John Carney. “This investment shows that Delaware remains a leader in innovative manufacturing techniques. We are excited for CP Cases’ expansion, bringing new jobs to Sussex County.”

CP Cases had been searching for additional industrial space to serve its growing customer base, which is found in business sectors such as broadcasting and media; entertainment and live events; energy and marine; medical; and security and defense. Within the entertainment industry, the company’s customers have included musical acts such as the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Pink Floyd. Products include rack-mount transit cases, air-conditioned transit cases, Lightweight AirShip containers, camera rain covers, and rugged textile and flexible material products along with customizable industry solutions.

The new Delaware location will allow better utilization of the roto-molding process CP Cases uses to form its molded case and rack products. Natural gas is the most efficient fuel for this process, and Martin Property Development’s decision to bring natural gas to Frankford Business Park and its tenants was key to CP Cases’ decision to locate there. The new gas line – which was supported by a portion of the $1 million Site Readiness Fund grant that Martin Property Development received from the State of Delaware earlier this year – also benefits the Town of Frankford and local residents, as does the central water service Frankford Business Park is supplying them.

Such developments were made possible by cooperation among the developer, local utility companies, and Sussex County. Delaware Prosperity Partnership began assisting CP Cases with its site search after being connected with the company by Sussex County Economic Development Director William Pfaff.

“We think of economic development in terms of building a championship sports team: we’re always scouting for that next great player,” Pfaff said. “That’s what CP Cases is for Sussex County, another great player that we’ve been fortunate enough to pick up by drawing them to Delaware. Welcome to the team!”

CP Cases officials presented to Delaware’s Council on Development Finance an application for a Jobs Performance Grant of $161,610 and a Capital Expenditure Grant of $28,500 from the Delaware Strategic Fund to support the company’s investment. Distribution of grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund are dependent on the company meeting commitments as outlined to the CDF, which reviewed and approved CP Cases’s request for up to $190,110 in total grant funding.

“CP Cases is so excited to become a part of the community of Sussex County, Delaware, and appreciate the support we’ve received from Delaware and Sussex County to expand our operations,” said Peter Gill, CP Cases Inc. general manager. “We look forward to offering high-quality manufacturing jobs in the community and continue building stable long-term operations in Delaware.”

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About Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Delaware Prosperity Partnership (choosedelaware.com) leads Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support employers in place marketing Delaware to potential employees via livelovedelaware.com. The DPP team works with site selectors, executives and developers focused on where to locate or grow a business and helps with reviewing potential sites, cost-of-living analyses and funding opportunities, including available tax credits and incentives. DPP advances a culture of innovation in Delaware, working with innovators and startups to spotlight and celebrate successes and connect them with the resources they need to succeed. DPP and its partnerships throughout Delaware support and advance the missions of companies of all sizes and sectors.

About CP Cases

CP Cases designs and manufactures high-performance, protective cases and racks used for transport, operation and storage of essential equipment in commercial and military applications. Many of their products are accredited to MIL-STD-810, rated IP65 and carry NATO stock numbers. Among the first to market in 1970s with flight cases for the live music industry, CP Cases now offers the broadest range of protective, operational transit cases for defense and security, broadcast and media, medical and scientific, offshore and many other sectors. CP Cases has over 50 years of expertise in producing cases, 19-inch rack solutions and bags, as well as an unparalleled range of in-house skill and expertise with rotomolded plastic, aluminum, laminated plywood, HPP, textiles and CNC foam machining. An extensive selection of options includes climate control (compressor and thermoelectric air conditioning units), EMC shielding, fire resistance and anti-static capabilities. CP Cases’ products are available in a wide range of standard sizes, and the company’s design team can create a custom solution to meet (almost) any application a product requires.

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semiconductor manufacturing delaware dupont

DuPont Expanding in Newark, Delaware

Written on . Posted in Press Releases.

DuPont Chooses Delaware for Expansion of Semiconductor Materials Production

WILMINGTON, Del. (August 22, 2022) – DuPont Semiconductor Technologies, a business unit of DuPont Electronics & Industrial, and a leading producer of specialty materials used in the production of semiconductors, has chosen Glasgow, Delaware, for a $50 million expansion in response to growing industry demand.

Following an extensive site search throughout Northern Delaware and Maryland, DuPont Electronics & Industrial decided to expand its Semiconductor Technologies manufacturing operations into a new 385,000-square-foot facility near its existing Newark, Delaware, location. The new semiconductor manufacturing facility is planned to become the primary work site for more than 70 existing workers and create about 10 new positions in Delaware.

“The DuPont Company has been part of Delaware’s DNA for 220 years. With this expansion of their semiconductor division, the company is showing their commitment to our state and workforce,” said Governor John Carney. “This site will bring with it a new 385,000-square-foot facility and 10 new jobs close to its existing Newark campus at a time when semiconductors are needed more than ever. Thank you to DuPont Electronics & Industrial for continuing to make Delaware a part of the DuPont story.”

DuPont and its innovative technologies have played a key role in Delaware’s economy for over 220 years. Today, DuPont is a premier multi-industrial leader with technology-based materials and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life.

DuPont Semiconductor Manufacturing Ready to Serve  Growing Demand

DuPont Semiconductor Technologies delivers enabling materials for semiconductor fabrication, packaging and assembly. In Delaware, the Semiconductor Technologies team manufactures key materials used in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), an essential step in modern semiconductor fabrication processes.

Semiconductors are vital parts of the technologies people depend upon daily around the world. Demand for semiconductor chips continues to grow, driven by global trends such as surges in data storage, 5G and other wireless communications, and automotive electronics. Increased reliance on digital technologies for online collaboration and cloud computing also highlight how critical semiconductor chips are to the global economy.

Poised for a decade of growth, the semiconductor industry is projected to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030. With its latest investment, DuPont will be well positioned to serve customers in this growing industry from its Delaware facilities.

Supporting DuPont Electronics & Industrial’s investment of $50 million in equipment and fit out costs for the new site are a Jobs Performance Grant of $65,550 and a Capital of Expenditure Grant of $1,578,000 from the Delaware Strategic Fund. Distribution of grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund is dependent on the company meeting commitments as outlined to Delaware’s Council on Development Finance, which reviewed and approved the company’s request for up to $1,643,550 in total grant funding.

“DuPont materials for chemical mechanical planarization are an essential part of the semiconductor supply chain, used by customers around the world in highly sensitive semiconductor chip fabrication,” said John Singer, Vice President, Integrated Operations, DuPont Electronics & Industrial. “As we expand to meet industry growth, we’re pleased to have identified a new facility near our existing CMP manufacturing operations in Delaware, where we can continue to have close collaboration with our experienced colleagues in operations, engineering, quality and other interconnected teams.”

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About Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Delaware Prosperity Partnership (choosedelaware.com) leads Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support employers in place marketing Delaware to potential employees via livelovedelaware.com. The DPP team works with site selectors, executives and developers focused on where to locate or grow a business and helps with reviewing potential sites, cost-of-living analyses and funding opportunities, including available tax credits and incentives. DPP advances a culture of innovation in Delaware, working with innovators and startups to spotlight and celebrate successes and connect them with the resources they need to succeed. DPP and its partnerships throughout Delaware support and advance the missions of companies of all sizes and sectors.

About DuPont Electronics & Industrial

DuPont Electronics & Industrial is a global supplier of new technologies and performance materials serving the semiconductor, circuit board, display, digital and flexographic printing, healthcare, aerospace, industrial and transportation industries. From advanced technology centers worldwide, teams of talented research scientists and application experts work closely with customers, providing solutions, products and technical service to enable next-generation technologies.

About DuPont

DuPont (NYSE: DD) is a global innovation leader with technology-based materials and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life. Our employees apply diverse science and expertise to help customers advance their best ideas and deliver essential innovations in key markets including electronics, transportation, construction, water, healthcare and worker safety. More information about the company, its businesses and solutions can be found at www.dupont.com. Investors can access information included on the Investor Relations section of the website at investors.dupont.com.

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WuXi STA pharmaceutical manufacturing site Delaware

WuXi STA Breaks Ground on Delaware Site

Written on . Posted in In the News.

WuXi STA Breaks Ground for New Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility in Middletown, Delaware

16 AUGUST, 2022 | WuXi News

WuXi STA new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Delaware

MIDDLETOWN, Delaware, August 16, 2022 – WuXi STA, a leading Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO), is pleased to announce the groundbreaking for its new 190-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Middletown, Delaware. First announced in June 2021, this site will be WuXi STA’s second facility in the United States, offering expanded capacity and greater flexibility to meet customers’ needs in the U.S. and worldwide.

The WuXi STA Middletown site is located in the Middletown Business Center at 1091 Industrial Drive, and the new state-of-the-art facility will create approximately 500 full-time jobs by 2026. Phase I of the new campus will provide formulation development, clinical and commercial drug product manufacturing services for a variety of oral and injectable dosage forms, as well as packaging, labeling, storage, and distribution services for clinical trial materials and commercial drug products.

WuXi STA has 12 sites across the U.S., Europe, and Asia that offer a range of services and meet or exceed all regulatory standards. Together with three other drug product manufacturing sites in Couvet (Switzerland), Wuxi City (China), and Shanghai (China), this new facility will further enhance the company’s global drug production capacity and capabilities. 

World Leader in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Research

“The biopharmaceutical industry is part of Delaware’s DNA,” said Delaware Governor John Carney. “Over the next five years, WuXi STA plans to build a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing site in one of Delaware’s fastest-growing communities, bringing with it good jobs and economic growth. This campus is only possible because of Delaware’s world-class, innovative workforce. Thank you to WuXi STA, Middletown Mayor Kenny Branner and everyone who made this project possible.”

“The First State continues to be a first-rate destination for businesses looking to innovate and grow,” said Senator Tom Carper. “This investment by WuXi STA helps position Delaware as a continued global leader in biopharmaceuticals, further cementing the manufacturing might of one of our fastest growing communities. Delaware’s workforce is ready to help build the future of our life-saving pharmaceuticals. This state-of-the-art campus will create good jobs and help fortify our supply chains here at home.”

“This biopharmaceutical manufacturing site is one most significant private sector investment ever in the Middletown region,” said Senator Chris Coons. “I am excited about WuXi STA’s decision to choose Middletown for one of their new manufacturing facilities. This isn’t just the largest private-sector investment in Middletown’s history – it’s a defining moment that will bring many more good-paying jobs to Delaware and will further cement the First State as a world leader in biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing. Thanks are due to everyone from Middletown to Dover to Washington who helped us get to this point, whether by making continued investments in NIIMBL, improving our education system from kindergarten to our universities, or ensuring that Delaware workers have the skills manufacturers like WuXi AppTec are looking for.”

“As the First State, Delaware has always had a spirit of innovation – constantly seeking new opportunities and ventures that will strengthen our economy and our state as a whole,” said Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester. “Today’s groundbreaking of the WuXi STA pharmaceutical manufacturing plant represents another step in that spirit of innovation – bringing good-paying jobs to Middletown and strengthening communities throughout Delaware. The state-of-the-art facility will bring 500 full-time jobs over the next several years, growing our state’s workforce and allowing us to manufacture more goods domestically – enhancing our economic competitiveness on the global stage.”

“We are truly looking forward to our partnership with WuXi STA, as the groundbreaking today marks the kick-off to them making their new home in Middletown, Delaware. WuXi STA will be joining our bustling industrial area, just steps away from Clarios, Datwyler, Amazon and Breakthru Beverage, just some of the companies that have invested in Middletown. When asked by WuXi STA about our business-friendly attitude, these businesses expressed their wholehearted support for how we do business and we couldn’t be more excited about WuXi STA wanting to join them, and the Town of Middletown, in our journey together,” said Middletown Mayor Ken Branner. Branner added he was thankful for the support of Gov. John Carney and the Delaware Prosperity Partnership.

“I would like to thank our federal, state and local partners in Delaware for their continued support in the establishment of this site,” said Dr. Minzhang Chen, co-CEO of WuXi AppTec and CEO of WuXi STA. “WuXi STA continues to increase our capabilities and capacities to better serve our customers through a more robust and reliable supply chain. With our integrated Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO) platform and proven quality system, we look forward to working with our customers to swiftly deliver their innovative therapies to market in order to save lives and improve healthcare for patients.”

The WuXi STA Middletown facility is expected to begin operations in 2025.

About WuXi STA

WuXi STA (stapharma.com), a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec (wuxiapptec.com), is a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capability and technology platform company serving the life sciences industry with global operations. As a premier Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO), WuXi STA offers its worldwide partners efficient, flexible and high-quality solutions for integrated chemical, manufacturing and controls (CMC) from preclinical to commercial uses, including the development and manufacturing of small molecule, oligonucleotide, peptide and various complex chemical conjugate. For more information, please visit: http://www.STApharma.com

About WuXi AppTec

As a global company with operations across Asia, Europe, and North America, WuXi AppTec provides a broad portfolio of R&D and manufacturing services that enable the global pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to advance discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients. Through its unique business models, WuXi AppTec’s integrated, end-to-end services include chemistry drug CRDMO (Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization), biology discovery, preclinical testing and clinical research services, cell and gene therapies CTDMO (Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization), helping customers improve the productivity of advancing healthcare products through cost-effective and efficient solutions. WuXi AppTec received AA ESG rating from MSCI in 2021 and its open-access platform is enabling more than 5,850 collaborators from over 30 countries to improve the health of those in need – and to realize the vision that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Please visit: http://www.wuxiapptec.com

Media Contact:

Davy Wu

mediainquiries@wuxiapptec.com

This article was originally posted at https://www.wuxiapptec.com/news/wuxi-news/5174.

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Agilent Technologies Expands in Delaware

Written on . Posted in Press Releases.

Agilent Technologies Chooses Delaware for $7 Million Investment

May 24, 2022

(WILMINGTON, Del.) – Agilent Technologies Inc., a global analytical instrumentation development, life sciences and manufacturing company and one of Delaware’s largest private-sector employers, has chosen to modernize and expand its existing Little Falls office and lab campus in response to growing worldwide demand for the company’s analytical laboratory consumables products.

Agilent plans to invest more than $7 million to upgrade the functionality of its Little Falls R&D and applications development labs at the three-level, 354,000-square-foot Wilmington-area site. The company’s investment will go toward the complete redesign, demolition, construction and outfitting of the existing laboratories.

“We are excited for Agilent Technologies’ expansion and modernization of their lab space, bringing new jobs to their facilities in New Castle County,” said Governor John Carney. “Delaware has a long tradition of expertise in the field of chemistry. This investment shows that Delaware remains a leader in innovative development.” 

Agilent – a world leader in the life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets – has been a vital part of Delaware’s economy for more than 20 years. The company’s decision to update its existing facility reflects its confidence in Delaware’s dynamic business environment and large pool of regional talent. 

Agilent currently employs more than 800 workers at Little Falls, located in unincorporated New Castle County, and additional employees at its manufacturing location in Newport. The Little Falls renovation and expansion will result in the company further expanding its workforce amid strong demand for its biopharmaceutical laboratory consumables. 

“This another great example of investment in New Castle County where businesses have the access to talent and an incredible life sciences ecosystem,” said County Executive Matt Meyer. “We applaud Agilent Technologies on its commitment to New Castle County and the job creation that will result.”

Agilent officials presented today to Delaware’s Council on Development Finance their application for a Jobs Performance Grant of $93,330 and a Capital Expenditures Grant of $210,000 from the Delaware Strategic Fund to supplement the company’s $7 million investment. Distribution of grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund are dependent on the company meeting commitments as outlined to the CDF, which reviewed and approved Agilent’s request for up to $303,330 in total grant funding. 

“Agilent has a long and successful history in the State of Delaware, and this investment in our laboratories will enable world-class R&D for the fast-growing biopharma market, while expanding and supporting our Delaware-based team,” said John Gavenonis, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Chemistries and Supplies Division. “Delaware is the right place for this R&D investment.” 

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 About Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Delaware Prosperity Partnership leads Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support employers in place marketing Delaware to potential employees via livelovedelaware.com. The DPP team works with site selectors, executives and developers focused on where to locate or grow a business and helps with reviewing potential sites, cost-of-living analyses and funding opportunities, including available tax credits and incentives. DPP advances a culture of innovation in Delaware, working with innovators and startups to spotlight and celebrate successes and connect them with the resources they need to succeed. DPP and its partnerships throughout Delaware support and advance the missions of companies of all sizes and sectors.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, delivering insight and innovation that advance the quality of life. Agilent’s full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers’ most challenging questions. The company generated revenue of $6.32 billion in fiscal 2021 and employs 17,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at agilent.com. To receive the latest Agilent news, subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

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delaware blue economy

Delaware Dives Deep into the Blue Economy

Written on . Posted in Success Stories.

Delaware is diving into the deep end of the Blue Economy, which focuses on all the economic activities related to the coastal and marine environment. This includes everything from transportation and shipping goods to aquaculture, fisheries, offshore wind and mineral resources.

Delaware also is quickly joining the East Coast BlueTech cluster network, which includes Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. BlueTech is a tech innovation focus area that is rapidly growing, attracting new investments and advancing innovations in the Blue Economy and national security.

Delaware has a key advantage the other blue cluster states do not have: offering significantly lower operating costs and an easier path to overcome security, permitting and access requirements for these projects, said Dr. Arthur Trembanis and Rob Nicholson, key personnel helping Delaware advance BlueTech initiatives.

Trembanis is a professor of oceanography and geology at the University of Delaware and deputy director of UD’s Center for Autonomous and Robotic Systems (CARS). He “develops and chases autonomous system robots around the environment.” Nicholson’s background is meteorology and oceanography (METOC) in the U.S. Navy. He’s been involved in business development and technology development throughout his career, and his current Naval Reserves assignment is with the 10th Fleet Cyber Command/Navy Space Command, where he serves as Staff METOC Officer and provides training and operational integration support to U.S. Space Command.

The linchpin for the state’s efforts can be found downstate at UD’s Lewes Campus, home to the Robotics Discovery Lab (RDL), one of the most advanced marine-robotics labs in the country. A sea-grant university since 1976, UD has a rich legacy of marine research and exploration through its College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE).

“We’re trying to leverage resources like the RDL and CARS, which is a universitywide robotics initiative that includes master’s degrees in robotics for professional-level training,” Trembanis said. “We have developed credentialing classes you can take through professional continuing studies. For example, you can come take a continuing studies class to become a drone pilot.”

Blue Economy in Delaware

Delaware’s role as a major player in the Blue Economy depend on continued engagement between academia, industry, state and federal agencies, and military groups.

“I think Delaware is a great place to come and conduct testing and evaluation (T&E) with innovative BlueTech systems that have a role in supporting the growing Blue Economy because we offer our unique geographic and oceanographic positioning,” Trembanis said. “We have an estuary system and salt marshes, so we can study areas where there’s fresh water mixing with salt water. We have coastal waters, the Mid-Atlantic. We also have our Inland Bays areas and salt marshes. We’re the lowest-lying elevation state in the nation, which allows us to address key issues around climate change, sea-level rise and coastal resilience. We’re at one with the bays and the ocean, and we are punching well above our weight with what we can offer groups wishing to develop and test new technologies.

“The holy grail is we want to improve the economy while we improve our understanding and stewardship of the planet.”

These efforts have been enhanced by the launch in early 2021 of the Ratcliffe Eco-Entrepreneurship Fellows (REEF) Program at the University of Delaware, led by Dr. David Lawson. REEF provides students with tuition support and stipends to pursue ideas for entrepreneurial, commercial solutions to environmental problems. It’s a partnership between the University’s CEOE and Horn Entrepreneurship programs and supported by the Ratcliffe Foundation.

“I think the REEF Program was a real first flag in the ground,” Nicholson said. “Dr. Lawson did not rely solely on the university or the state. He came from Procter & Gamble and retired here with a wealth of knowledge and experience in Open Innovation best practices. He asked if we were doing anything with innovation, and the answer was, ‘Well, kind of, not really, I don’t know.’ He worked across the university system and landed a large grant to stand up that innovation and entrepreneurship program. It allowed us to leverage the successes there and build something around.”

According to Nicholson, innovation entrepreneurship typically is an afterthought. Leading with that, he says, was a clever approach.

“What REEF has done is provide a home and inspiration for students who are environmental scientists or engineers, environmentally minded with an entrepreneurial mindset,” Trembanis added. “For many years, if students said they wanted to form a company, for example, to help address microplastics in the bay or develop sustainable fisheries, you’d have to tell them to take a biology class and then go over to the business school. Now we can tell them we have an outlet where they can develop their entrepreneurial skills and the program has an ecosystem of resources, services and funding to help scale those new ventures.”

Along with a Navy Educational Partnership Agreement, UD has signed partnership and internship agreements with Ocean Infinity America, the Navy Surface Warfare Center and the U.S. Naval Academy. It also has a track record with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard. A Congressionally Directed Funding proposal for a Blue Economy Tech Center also has been approved.

Delaware is also leading development of an NSF Engineering Research Center proposal, which would be a 10-year program that includes the University of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, University of Pennsylvania, Delaware State University, University of South Carolina, University of Puerto Rico and a host of commercial partners focused on developing autonomous systems (environmental robots) and sensors and platforms to address coastal resiliency, to better understand the impact that sea-level rise or a hurricane or Nor’easter would have on our coastline.

“Part of laying the groundwork for this is bringing people in for campus visits,” Trembanis said. “People come in, they see the lab, they see the environment, and they say, ‘Oh, you’ve got these ships, you’ve got these researchers, you’ve got all this activity going on. I didn’t realize this was going on here at Delaware.’”

Both Nicholson and Trembanis believe Delaware is well-positioned from both an innovation perspective and an economic development and workforce development perspective.

“It’s a day trip for a lot of folks who are scientists, engineers and leadership in the D.C. area, as opposed to going all the way to Rhode Island or Norfolk,” Nicholson said. “But more than that, think about all the jobs when it comes to the 14 wind farms that have already been approved. With all the turbines that are going up, there’s going to be a need for service companies to evaluate, inspect and maintain these turbines. “

Ocean robotics offer multiple uses for data collection, surveillance and inspection capabilities that cut across traditional industries like oil and gas, offshore wind and fisheries. This is unique that these BlueTech systems can serve several industry sectors.

“Ocean robotics are a ‘tractor’ with multiple missions – (environmental DNA) sampling, which is environmental collection for aquaculture locations,” Nicholson said. “You can use them one day to sniff out some nutrients and check on the health of the fish and make sure there’s not contaminate buildups and things like that. And then you can re-mission that same platform, depending on the sensor suites, to do a coastline survey right before a hurricane hits, and then you can transition the next week to do post-storm wind-turbine inspections – all with a very similar system and setup.”

There are a lot of benefits to the Lewes Campus being the “Triple-A ballfield,” as Nicholson describes it.

“That’s evident in some of the work that the RDL team has conducted with some of the larger federal contractors and some of the proposed work ahead of us with the Navy and some of the other DOD partners,” he said. “Not surprisingly, there’s a little bit of expected congestion around some of these Blue Economy participants in understanding how they interact with each other and how they work together or minimize the impact of the work that they’re independently doing in and around a more robust ecosystem of maritime activities.”

Pharmaceutical and fintech operations, regardless of whether big blue chip or a small company, know they can quickly come in and plug in to Delaware. Trembanis and Nicholson agreed that they’re starting to see more Blue Economy companies take up residence in the state or “beat on our door” to come in and do testing and research and development.

Nicholson believes that Delaware will be considered part of the BlueTech cluster network within the next two years. He said they’re actively engaging with key players in the industry that can help make it happen.

“A BlueTech cluster isn’t just cool robots. It’s a diverse economic ecosystem,” he said. “It’s got a little bit of offshore wind, it’s got some academia, it’s got some industry partners, it’s got some federal partners, it’s got some engineering, and it’s got a little oceanography. We have the ingredients. I think we just need to get it into a big pot and really start to cook it.”

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LaMotte Company expands R&D and lab in Delaware

LaMotte Chooses Delaware for Expansion

Written on . Posted in Press Releases.

LaMotte Company Chooses Newark, Delaware, for Manufacturing and R&D Expansion

LaMotte Company expands R&D and lab in Delaware

Water-Quality Testing Instrumentation and Reagent Company Investing $3.3M in New Pencader Corporate Center Site, Adding More Than 100 New Jobs in Delaware

(WILMINGTON, Del. ) — LaMotte Company, a leading producer of water-quality testing instrumentation and reagents, headquartered in Chestertown, Maryland, has chosen Newark, Delaware, as the site for its expansion. Sales growth has prompted LaMotte to increase its manufacturing and research and development capacity.

The company plans to invest $3.3 million to build out lab space at its new location in Pencader Corporate Center. The 79,000-square-foot site also will include office and production space.

“We are working hard to make Delaware more competitive so that we can compete and win every day,” said Governor John Carney. “That means making sure we have the best environment so businesses like LaMotte Company can grow and thrive here in Delaware. We are excited for this expansion and the new jobs it will bring. This investment shows that Delaware remains in demand for manufacturing and innovative development.”

LaMotte will hire more than 50 employees immediately with future plans to have more than 100 people working at the site within three years. Positions will include skilled technicians, production line and warehouse workers, administrative positions, and engineers and chemists.

Proximity to the intellectual resources of the University of Delaware was a key reason for LaMotte’s choice of Newark, Delaware, over other Mid-Atlantic locations. The company intends to collaborate with the university’s College of Engineering and Lerner College of Business & Economics to develop an internship and employee pipeline. It also plans to partner with Delaware’s vocational high schools and Delaware Technical Community College to address its needs for technician and manufacturing personnel.

“We are excited to learn of LaMotte Company’s plans to expand to New Castle County,” said County Executive Matt Meyer. “We also thank the leadership and vision of Delaware Prosperity Partnership in helping to bring exciting and innovative employment opportunities to Delawareans.”

Founded in Baltimore, Maryland, LaMotte has manufactured specialized pH indicators and other analytical reagents for water-quality analysis worldwide since 1919. Today, the company produces analytical reagents, electronic instrumentation, and complete portable test kits for chemical analysis for hundreds of applications to serve the pool and spa; drinking water; industrial water; environmental science education; food and beverage; laundry and sanitation; water and wastewater; and aquarium and fish farming industries.

LaMotte officials presented to Delaware’s Council on Development Finance, requesting a performance-based grant of $190,440 and a Delaware Lab Space Grant of almost $1.06 million from the Delaware Strategic Fund. Distribution of grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund is dependent on the company meeting commitments as outlined to the CDF, which reviewed and approved the request.

“We are thrilled to continue our expansion plans culminating in this investment in Delaware,” said LaMotte President and CEO Scott Amsbaugh. “The Newark location is highly valuable for us given the skilled and educated local workforce and its proximity to global shipping hubs. This investment is critical in our capacity expansion to meet our customers’ growing demands for LaMotte’s products.” 

Delaware Prosperity Partnership began working with LaMotte in June 2021 on its site selection process.

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About Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Delaware Prosperity Partnership leads Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support employers in place marketing Delaware to potential employees via livelovedelaware.com. The DPP team works with site selectors, executives and developers focused on where to locate or grow a business and helps with reviewing potential sites, cost-of-living analyses and funding opportunities, including available tax credits and incentives. DPP advances a culture of innovation in Delaware, working with innovators and startups to spotlight and celebrate successes and connect them with the resources they need to succeed. DPP and its partnerships throughout Delaware support and advance the missions of companies of all sizes and sectors.

About LaMotte Company

Founded in Baltimore, Maryland, LaMotte Company is headquartered on its own 15-acre industrial park near colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The company is a leading manufacturer of analytical reagents, laboratory apparatus, electronic instrumentation and complete portable test kits for chemical analysis in hundreds of applications. Since 1919, LaMotte has been a committed leader in providing quality equipment and guidance for water analysis. LaMotte’s first major catalog, published in 1930, anticipated many of the areas in which accurate chemical control is indispensable today: boiler water, swimming pools, drinking water and more. Today, the company produces a broad line of portable test equipment and continues its focus on specific needs by offering reliable products and exceptional technical support and customer service to guarantee satisfaction.

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martin miller's metal fabrication company

Martin Miller Is a Self-Made American Success Story

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Martin Miller Is a Self-Made American Success Story

October 19, 2021 –

What started as a one-man business inside a small backyard garage almost 30 years ago has grown into one of Delaware’s leading manufacturers, Miller Metal Fabrication.

Miller’s privately-owned regional metal fabrication company struggled during its first 15 years of operations. Then Martin W. Miller, founder and owner of Miller Metal, decided to embrace change and expand, he began using the latest state-of-the-art technology. Business took off. The company now employs nearly 100 people and offers a full array of manufacturing services for its diversified client base. Despite its size, Miller Metal has a substantive manufacturing presence in the Mid-Atlantic, where it services local, regional, national, and several international clients in a variety of industries.

Miller Metal now holds a unique position in its industry as a full-service metal fabrication company. Unlike most metal fabricators, Miller Metal provides “turn-key” solutions for its customers, as it designs, cuts, bends, welds, assembles, and ships a wide range of metal components. Serving a large and diverse number of customers throughout the United States, the company specializes in highly sophisticated laser cutting, machining, forming, design engineering, welding, and assembly services.

Miller Has Decided It’s Time to Embrace Change Again.

Miller Metal fabrication company in DelawareDuring a ceremony held Monday, October 18, 2021, at his facility, Miller, along with his CFO Mike Elehwany and Delaware Governor John Carney announced the metal fabrication company’s next major expansion. Located in the Newton Business Park, just west of Route 13 on Route 404 in Western Sussex County, Miller Metal plans to build a 60,000-square-foot industrial /office building on 8.5 acres of land adjacent to its current leased facility. The company plans to bring the total number of employees to 117 within three years.

“Miller Metal Fabrication’s decision to expand their operations and build a new facility in Bridgeville is great news for Sussex County and for Delaware,” said Governor John Carney. “This expansion will create new jobs, and it reaffirms that Delaware is the ideal place for businesses to grow.”

Miller Metal Fabrication is investing almost $7 million in its new facility, including acquisition, construction, and fit-out costs. Supporting the company’s plans are grants it has been approved to receive from the Delaware Strategic Fund by the State Council on Development Finance: a Jobs Performance Grant of $57,350 and a Capital Expenditure Grant of $207,900. Miller Metal previously received a Delaware Transportation Infrastructure Investment Fund Grant of $313,000 toward the construction of a new Route 404 entrance to the Newton Business Park, which facilitates future development by other businesses there as well.

Over the Years, the Company Has Experienced a Series of Expansions.

In 1993, Miller left his original backyard shop for a larger space in Harrington. Soon after, Miller Metal teamed up with Delaware-based material handling solutions company, O.A. Newton & Son., to co-exist at Newton’s headquarters site in Bridgeville in Sussex County. In 2014, Miller Metal added a machine shop to its operation, where it has several high-tech milling machines. That same year, the metal fabrication company started a rubber and hose division, the Delmarva Rubber Company, at its Bridgeville location. Delmarva Rubber provides specialty rubber, gasket and hose products to the agriculture, manufacturing, public safety, chemical and food processing industries.

Currently, the company has more than 60 advanced pieces of equipment. It also has one of the largest press brakes on the East Coast.

“Sussex County is excited at the prospect of adding better-paying jobs, thanks to Miller Metal Fabrication’s expansion plans and the approval of these grants,” said Sussex County Council President Michael H. Vincent. “Sussex County has a robust manufacturing sector, one that is thriving with many small and mid-size businesses. This funding will ensure another local company stays hard at work creating products that we can proudly say are made . . . right here in Sussex County.”

Despite its success, Miller Metal stays true to its roots.

Miller Metal has remained a family-owned business with the owner’s three sons―Martin III, Dave and Paul―each retaining management roles within the company. Miller Metal offers competitive wages, full benefit packages that include 401K plan matching and subsidized health insurance. The company also offers on-site and remote technical training to its production workers.

“My employees are the key to our success,” said Miller during the announcement ceremony. “Every one of them views the company as their own, and they take genuine pride in the fact that our success is largely due to their commitment to customer satisfaction.”

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Delaware machining business Allied Precision

Allied Precision Inc. – The Sum of Its Parts

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Allied Precision Inc. – The Sum of Its Parts

Keeping an Eye on Manufacturing Technology and Trends for 25 Years

John Lees never looked far for career inspiration. His father was a machinist, and when young Lees visited his dad’s machine shop, he was awestruck. “I enjoyed what I saw, the smells and the interaction between the folks there,” Lees recalls. “I thought, ‘This is pretty cool.’”

Lees didn’t waiver. Today, he is the owner of Allied Precision Inc. in Middletown, Delaware, which manufactures a wide variety of products, including complex, multipart, custom-engineered fabrications and assemblies.

Lees started Allied Precision in the basement of his home in 1995. Since then, the machining growth has been as steady as the craftsmanship that defines the company. At the same time, Lees stays on top of a rapidly changing sector.

Building a Machining Business in Delaware

Lees grew up in Newark, Delaware, where his father worked for Autotote Systems. At that time, the company made wagering systems primarily used at racetracks.

Delaware was — and is — home to Delaware Park, which offers live racing and now has a casino; Harrington Casino & Raceway; and Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, which features harness racing.

After graduating from Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, Lees apprenticed at a high-end shop in New Castle. “That gave me a good base to build on as far as understanding the trade and knowing how to maneuver in it so I could eventually start my own company,” he says.

Being an entrepreneur didn’t daunt him. “I’ve always loved making things and doing what people say couldn’t be done,” Lees says.

He was equally sure about where he wanted to build his machining business. Delaware was not only home. It was also full of friends, family, colleagues — and connections. “I was fortunate to have a small group of mentors and journeymen to guide me through the years,” he says.

He’s found support in other ways, namely the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a federally and state-funded non-profit organization committed to helping Delaware’s manufacturers improve their global competitiveness. DEMEP is the official representative of the MEP National Network in Delaware, a public-private partnership.

“They really do a great job at assisting small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms,” Lees says. “We have leaned on them in the past for our ISO certification and specific job training. They’ve been a valuable asset through the years. They allow us to compete in challenging yet rewarding sectors of the industry.”

Improving & Expanding

In the early 2000s, Allied Precision had outgrown its original Newark location. Middletown offered affordable real estate, although the market there was exploding — which continues to be the case. The building can accommodate the growing number of computerized systems that have become part of 21st-century manufacturing.

“We managed to nail a piece of property, put up a 12,000-square-foot building and never looked back,” Lees says.

owner allied precision john leesTo be sure, when Lees started, the machinist was familiar with every stage of a part’s creation. Now the raw product — from steel to copper to composites — enters a computerized machine and exits as a finished part.

These machines must be high-tech. Consequently, the required skills to work in the industry have changed.

“Workers have to know programming — there is a whole laundry list of requirements,” he agrees. After 30 years in the machining business, Lees knows where to find the talent, and he spends time and effort recruiting the right people.

Lees also keeps his finger on the pulse of the trends. When Allied Precision first opened, it was making parts for automobile cruise control systems. “It was fairly high volume,” he recalls. Now the medical and defense sectors are hot, he says. Other clients are in agriculture and the valve and pump industries.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Allied Precision was hit with a wave of orders as companies hustled to move from a just-in-time approach to just-in-case. The workflow has since adjusted to pre-COVID demands.

The company currently has 15 employees working over two shifts to meet client demands. The machines run for six to seven days a week. “We are in our fourth location with plans for future expansion,” he says.

For Lees, growth is essential.

“A smart fella once told me: ‘An institution that has no wants has no future,’” he says. “We work hard to satisfy our growing customer base and will continue to grow this company as large as it can be.”

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AWSM expanding supply chain solutions in Delaware

AWSM Manufactures Supply Chain Solutions and Awesome Jobs in Delaware

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AWSM Solutions Manufactures Supply Chain Solutions and Awesome Job Opportunities in Delaware

AWSM Solutions brings jobs in Delaware

October 15, 2021 – 

With a company name like AWSM – yes, it’s pronounced “awesome” – it’s clear that clever strategy is part of the AWSM Solutions business.

AWSM Solutions, which came to Bear, Delaware, in 2020, is a custom liquid blender and toll processor that is part of The Royale Group, a collection of specialty chemical companies. Toll processing, or contract processing, is basically a nimbler approach for quicker end-to-end product delivery. The supply chain solutions company handles everything from tankers to 55-gallon drums, all the way down to spray bottles. 

“The bulk of what we do is customer-directed toll processing,” said Gene Fatula, director of business development, who leads the company along with John Logue, chief executive officer of The Royale Group. “A company might come along with 50,000 of a liquid product and say, ‘We need you to mix it in your giant blenders, make us a formula and package it with our requirements.’”

Bringing manufacturing back to the United States is an opportunity on the minds of both Logue and Fatula. Toll processing gives their company advantages that offshore manufacturers cannot.

“It’s hard for a lot of our clients to get a quality product delivered quickly and conveniently in the current supply chain,” Logue noted.

Before joining forces, Logue had been a customer of Fatula’s for many years. He realized there was something bigger possible from their working relationship, given the challenges they both saw in the manufacturing supply chain.

“If you study what is happening with logistics and freight, the time lag and price constraints were destroying the American supply chain,” Fatula said. “John and I decided to create a niche that would bring jobs back to Delaware and be part of a needed solution.”

In 2019, AWSM New Jersey, a member of The Royale Group, was named Distributor of the Year through the National Association of Chemical Distributors, an impressive feat within the hundred-billion-dollar industry. Logue invited Fatula into the business venture, adding manufacturing to the Royale portfolio, as AWSM Solutions Delaware.

Ideal Location for AWSM’s Supply Chain Solutions

A number of elements had pointed the company toward Delaware. Logue and Fatula found that Delaware’s business-friendly approach was a big part in their decision to set up a location here, as well as move their corporate headquarters to the First State.

“While we are 100% for regulations, Delaware actually makes doing the right thing easy by having people in places to help simplify the process,” Fatula said. “Great location, great resources and a great, affordable workforce, is why Delaware has always done well with business.”

Although not required at the time of their decision to come to Delaware, Fatula and Logue decided to set a $15 minimum wage for AWSM Solutions. The rate scales quickly from there and provides great opportunity for employees.
 
To put together the new venture in Bear, AWSM worked with numerous state agencies. Delaware Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) provided guidance with regulatory issues while the Delaware Small Business Administration helped the company with complex funding issues that involved four states. Delaware Prosperity Partnership helped the company through the process of acquiring a grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund for capital improvements to its new Bear location. 
 
Throughout the last year, AWSM has been busy with products that have increased in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new facility makes a range of cleaning supplies and disinfectants along with pharmaceutical ingredients. 
 
The Bear facility already employs 15 full-time employees. Logue and Fatula are looking to hire additional workers.

“Our goal is to run two 10-hour shifts each day, five days a week,” Fatula said. “We’d like to add more employees by the end of the year.”

Fatula added that their plans look achievable based on the “very promising” talent pipeline the company already has developed. Right now, the challenge is getting needed equipment fast enough to supply the project – which is progressing positively.

“We have a great team here,” Fatula said. “It’s great to see smiles on faces when you walk in in the morning. Having a successful business and having a positive effect on a community and your employees is what it’s all about.”

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Eastern Highway Specialists Increases Blue-Collar Opportunities in Wilmington

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Eastern Highway Specialists Increases Blue-Collar Opportunities in Wilmington

October 4, 2021 – 

Before Bob Field was hiring and training dozens of employees at Eastern Highway Specialists, his Wilmington-based infrastructure construction company of 18 years, he was working on the Delaware Memorial Bridge late at night, laying concrete – and the foundation of his new business.

“I would be out there till 3 a.m.,” Field said in his office on North Church Street, where EHS has operated since 2003. “I’d come home, go to sleep and wake up three hours later. When you start a business, you have to just be there and pay attention to everything, no matter what.”

EHS has come a long way from the small garage out of which Bob and his wife, Clair Field, founded their general contracting business. From developing pedestrian walkways and rehabilitating historic bridges to replacing bridge bearings on major highways like I-95, the firm has left its professional mark on how people travel throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Bringing Blue-Collar Opportunities to Wilmington

Four years ago, Eastern Highway Specialists was at a crossroads.

Operating out of a 7,000 square-foot building on one acre of land, the heavy civil contractor needed to expand in order to hire more workers and buy equipment in bulk. Bob had added shop space over the years as his company increased from two employees to a 50-person workforce, but EHS had outgrown the North Church Street location. In 2017, it came time for EHS to start looking for new headquarters.

“The key is our growth in Wilmington,” Clair said. “There were places in other states that were close enough to consider, but with the emphasis on economic growth in the city, we really wanted to stay here.”

For the husband-and-wife team, Wilmington is home. They were both born at St. Francis Hospital about a year apart and had raised their eight children in the city.

Plus, Wilmington lies at the center of their bridge and highway projects, placing EHS within a 60-mile radius of highway construction sites throughout Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

EHS is a family business, with Bob serving as the company president and Clair as majority financial owner. Four of their children are also involved. They actively seek to increase the company’s diversity, with a third of EHS’s workforce comprising people of color.

So when Clair and Bob found property where they could build and develop a nearly 20,000-square-foot shop on five acres in Riverside, they jumped at the opportunity. The company’s $4 million investment on Downing Drive is nearly tripling their current space and adding four acres. Two grants approved by the state Council on Development Finance earlier this year are helping EHS bring 17 new positions to Riverside and improving existing infrastructure.

“These grants help offset some of the higher costs of developing land in former industrial cities such as Wilmington,” said safety and training manager Nathan Field. “It takes longer to return these areas to productive use today, and there are special associated costs.”

The cul de sac the company is adding to Downing Drive could potentially draw other businesses to the area.

“The grants will also help us upgrade Downing Drive, and it’s going to improve the desirability of doing business on this stretch for many other companies, too,” Nathan said.

Laying a Local Foundation

The new property not only benefits EHS as a company but also its workers, the surrounding Riverside community and future businesses.

Bob and Clair are invested in their workforce. They don’t want to hire people who leave after a few months. Every year, they sit down with employees to talk about next steps, so that their current positions can blossom into specialized careers.

“We are highly involved in developing a local workforce,” said Nathan, who is one of Clair and Bob’s sons.

As a participant in the Workplace Health and Safety Incentive Program for more than a decade, EHS is also committed to training employees on new skills and safety protocol. Since 2008, EHS has been continuously involved in the State of Delaware apprenticeship program as a sponsor. Nine of the company’s current employees graduated from the program, and four EHS foremen are apprentice graduates.

“We have to work from within,” Bob said. “As one example, we have someone who’s been with us for 10 years. He went through the apprenticeship program, and he’s now a certified welder.”

new blue-collar jobs with eastern highway specialistsThat means keeping blue-collar opportunities within walking distance, which is another reason EHS is staying in Wilmington’s East Side.

“People are choosing to invest here,” Nathan said, pointing to nearby REACH Riverside, a nonprofit that is improving the neighborhood through new housing projects.

By moving the construction company to the Riverside neighborhood, residents who don’t have cars will still have the opportunity to work for EHS.

“When there were factories, everybody was walking to work,” Nathan said of Wilmington’s industrial period. “When you’re rebuilding and creating new jobs in these areas, it’s a benefit to have companies that people can walk to.”

By redeveloping the Downing Drive site, the Field family is positioning EHS to be part of Wilmington’s growth and revitalization.

“We want to be part of the rise in the city,” Clair said.

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O.A. Newton CEO Rob Rider

Rob Rider Leads O.A. Newton to Record Growth

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Rob Rider Leads O.A. Newton to Record Growth

1 October, 2021  | LiveLoveDelaware.com

O.A. Newton CEO Rob Rider

For a business that has constantly reinvented itself over its 104 years in business, O.A. Newton & Son CEO Rob Rider doesn’t even pause when asked about his company’s elevator speech.

“We’re in two businesses – irrigation and farm and ranch products for a local customer base (Delmarva) and engineered material-handling systems on a national and international level,” says the fourth-generation leader (his grandfather Warren Newton was the “& Sons”).

Where many other Delaware businesses have struggled to survive during the pandemic, Rider says his company has been challenged to keep up as its building-product clients experience record sales and look to expand. For Rider, COVID 19 has been a business accelerant that has helped him grow revenues and move from 30 employees to nearly 40.

“Because we’re involved in both manufacturing and agriculture, we have been considered essential from the start, so we never laid anyone off,” he says. “At the beginning, we were getting ready to start a pretty large [composite decking] project and [the client] wouldn’t let us on site for a month. But that turned out to be a blessing because we were a bit behind schedule, and it allowed us to catch up and get the project back on schedule.”

Big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s saw a jump in business as homebound Delawareans decided to start or move forward with projects. As a result, demand for PVC pipe and fencing, vinyl siding, and wood composite decking stayed very strong.

At the same time, O.A. Newton continued to expand a longtime relationship with Miller Metal Fabrication, which leases space from Rider’s company.

“We decided 14 years ago that we didn’t need our employees doing the sheet metal fabrication for our products,” Rider says. “Miller Metal has developed a lot of advanced manufacturing to make our products better at a lower cost.”

For example, a few years ago, O.A. Newton identified a bottleneck in its production process involving a “spray and bake” painting process called powder coating that Miller Metal has been able to resolve. But Rider says client demand for the service has led them to offer the service to others from Harrington as an additional business.

“It’s not innovative and it’s not a new product,” Rider says. “You need to pay attention to what customers are asking for and then meeting the demand. It might only involve six or eight customers but there’s huge volume and we’ll be able to meet the demand together. You have to be ready to adapt.”

That discussion swung around to a question about O.A. Newton’s legacy after more than a century in Sussex County. The company got its start developing a feed for chickens that led to greater egg production, which led to feed-milling and chicken-breeding businesses. Beyond that, there is a dizzying list of businesses that Rob’s father Bob and then Rob himself started in response to customer needs and opportunities that they saw.

The commitment to innovation and being nimble led O.A. Newton to begin building conveyor belts to move the feed they milled in the 1950s. That led to the creation of conveying systems for companies that make plastic pipe and siding and decking and then to offering replacement parts and service when the recession slowed new construction. The company sold the poultry business was sold in 1969, and a parts counter became the O.A. Newton Farm and Ranch Store, essentially a specialty hardware store that recognized the changing demographics in Sussex and Kent counties from fewer large farms to more farmettes and hobby farms.

“As you can imagine, with our market being building products, the recession decimated our customers,” Rider says. “We had to really retrench and rebuild our business. When the housing bubble burst, it forced out a lot of inefficient manufacturing and we’ve seen steady growth since.”

The desire to stay nimble has led O.A. Newton to form partnerships with companies that have what they need, need what they have, or offer the scale to help them sell their products.

Rob Rider Remains an Unbashed Delaware Supporter

Since the start of the pandemic, the company has grown from 30 to nearly 40. Through it all, Rider has remained an unabashed Delaware supporter.

“Delaware has always been an easy place to do business,” he says. “Labor is easy to deal with and it’s easy to get answers. I can’t say that it’s always wonderful from a regulatory standpoint – that’s one of the things we need to work on — but it’s better than most. We’d never consider moving because of the experience we’ve had here.”

O.A. Newton recently shut down branch locations that served retail customers in New Jersey and New York for about 10 years because the “headache of doing business in those states wasn’t worth it. They weren’t terrible experiences, but in both cases, we just decided it wasn’t the right fit for us.”

Rider says he talks to people all the time who are considering renting space in his buildings or buying real estate to build themselves.

“I tell them we have a great workforce and the process to get located here from beginning to end is as easy and convenient as you’re going to get,” he says, adding that he completely supports the efforts of Bob Perkins and the Delaware Business Roundtable’s Ready in Six initiative to accelerate the permitting process.

Before ending the interview, Rider elaborated on his answer about the company’s legacy.

“I would hope that people are saying we’re keeping up with the times and exceeding their expectations, maintaining our relevance in today’s world,” says Rider. “Legacy to me really means reputation and one of the things that is more important than anything is being fair to our customers, our employees, and our community – pretty much in that order.”

“If we are not equally caring for all three of those stakeholders, then we’re not going to continue to exist. When we make decisions, we think about the impact tomorrow and 10 years from now.”

This article was originally posted on LiveLoveDelaware.com at: https://www.livelovedelaware.com/rob-rider-leads-o-a-newton-to-record-growth/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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No State Builds Pathways from High School to Jobs as well as Delaware Does: Opinion

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Option: 1

No State Builds Pathways from High School to Jobs as well as Delaware Does: Opinion

7 NOVEMBER, 2019

How can it be that with the lowest unemployment rate in anyone’s memory, the U.S. still has 6.9 jobs seeking workers and 6.3 workers seeking jobs?

There is no single answer, but a big part of the problem is the skills gap – not enough workers with the right skills, especially to fill middle-skill jobs in such fields as health care, IT, and advanced manufacturing.

Many states are building pipeline programs to address this gap, programs that begin in high school, connect to post secondary institutions, and work with employers to ensure that students have the right skills to fill in-demand jobs that can get them launched on fulfilling careers.

No state does this as well as Delaware.

Over these past six years, Delaware has, from a standing start, created a statewide career pathways system that has become a model for the nation. Delaware has grown from 27 students enrolled in an advanced manufacturing program in 2014 to 16,000 students across the state currently enrolled in 25 career pathways in 12 high-growth, high-demand sectors of the state’s economy.

The state is on track to meet its goal of enrolling 20,000 students — half the high school population — in career pathways by 2020.

Delaware’s story is the lead chapter in a new book just published by Harvard Education Press, “Career Pathways in Action: Case Studies from the Field,” written by Nancy Hoffman and myself. This book, and the case study of Delaware Pathways, will be featured in a session at the upcoming annual Vision Coalition Conference Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the University of Delaware.

In a few short years, Delaware Pathways has transformed the education landscape. Career pathways match students’ interests with tailored instruction and relevant work-based learning experiences, and award industry-recognized credentials and college credits while students are still in high school.

These pathways provide on and off ramps for the full spectrum of options. A young person on a health care pathway could use it to decide: a) to become a certified nursing assistant so she can start earning some money while she weighs her options; b) to start working toward becoming a medical doctor; or c) that it isn’t the right field.

The goal is to give program participants enough early exposure to the world of work and careers to make informed decisions about what comes next after high school.

How has Delaware been able to build such a robust career pathways system in such a short time? The secret is partnership.

The collaboration among statewide entities like the departments of Education and Labor, Delaware Technical Community College, the United Way, Rodel and a network of private employers large and small led to the development of a compelling strategic plan specifying the roles and responsibilities of each partner.

This cross-agency structure is unusually strong, and a dedicated core team from the partner organizations has stuck together to implement that plan.

Delaware Pathways is not without its challenges, including the provision of meaningful work-based learning opportunities for all participants and the development of a long-range funding plan.

But with Gov. John Carney leading the effort to bring more employers to the table, the first challenge is being addressed, and given the broad-based political support for the program, I’m confident the funding challenge will be addressed as well.

Delaware, you are currently building what many believe is the most scalable and replicable career pathways model in the nation.

Keep pushing.

The leaders of the other 15 state and regional members of the Pathways Network are all pulling for you because what you build here could not only help your young people, but benefit their peers in states across the United States.

— Robert Schwartz is a professor emeritus of practice in educational policy and administration at Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-founder of the Pathways to Prosperity Network.

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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