In a factory amid the busy southeastern corner of New Britain, a company busily produces something that could help you avoid a dangerous situation.
That company, Reflexite, makes an unusual type of highly reflective material made from microscopic prisms that is commonly found on highway signs, police cars, fire trucks ambulances, and even reflective vests.
“We just recently striped up the New Britain Police department’s new Dodge Charger,” said spokeswoman Lauren Maston of the reflective material made by Reflexite. It’s used on police cars in Glastonbury, Newington, Avon and many other towns throughout Central Connecticut, and much of the world.
Although it’s corporate headquarters is in Avon, Reflexite operates its “Conversion Center” in New Britain on South Street, where about 40 employees, many of them Polish immigrants, cut rolls and patterns from 30 inch by 300 foot strips of the reflective material, which are then sent out to customers. Those customers are generally middlemen who use Reflexite’s materials in their own products.
To the outsider, Reflexite seems something of an odd duck to find a home in New Britain, a city known more for its stamping, bending and molding metal than any other manufacturing. After all, the town’s largest manufacturer is the tool giant Stanley Works, which employs many hundreds in the town. Other large employers include Creed Monarch, a 54-year-old manufacturer of machined metals that occupies 140,000 square feet and employs 250.
Many of the machining companies in New Britain specialize in building tools for the medical industry. Okay Industries, on Ellis Street, last year won an award from the Precision Metalforming Association for developing a 3 millimeter implantable titanium staple that is used in some medical procedures.
Okay, which employs about 100 people, also specializes in manufacturing the shears and cutting implements that are used in medical scopes, such as endoscopes and arthroscopes, said company President Gregory Howey.
Like many of the dozens of manufacturers throughout New Britain, Okay also does manufacturing work for the aerospace and defense industries.
Still, metals are no monolith in New Britain. Take for instance the longevity of a company like Norpaco, on Peter Court. Founded in 1946, Norpaco is a major manufacturer of the stuffed cherry peppers, olives, Panini rolls, sun dried tomatoes, and other more unusual foods you’d find on your grocery store shelves. It employs about 35 people.
It, too, is something of an odd duck for the city. But also a long-lived and important one.
Kenneth J. St. Onge is associate editor of the Hartford Business Journal.
