Blue Back Square. There, I’ve said it. Now let’s talk about something else in West Hartford.
How about some of the small, private manufacturing firms that are quickly growing in this posh suburb, better known lately for its quaint retail district than its much longer entrenched history as a good ole’ manufacturing town?
Take United Tool & Die, for example, a company that has carved out a successful niche building parts for the air conditioning and cabin pressure systems on many commercial and military airplanes.
Many of those systems, used on jets such as the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A380, require elaborately bent aluminum tubes as wide as five inches in diameter, which United specializes in bending. It’s also one of only three aerospace manufacturers in the country certified to perform a unique type of welding called “dip brazing,” where aluminum powder is fitted into a joint and then superheated.
United’s parts have even been used in space shuttles and the Hubble Space Telescope said Julie Wagner, whose father Joe, is majority owner of the 80-year-old company.
“We’re unique because we’re a privately owned manufacturing firm that’s fairly large,” said Charlie Zien, United’s minority owner. Depending on its production cycle, United has about 120 to 150 employees and last year did $18 million in sales, he said.
United, which has about 160,000 square feet of space, owns most of the real estate at the end of Carney Road. And it tries to be good neighbor with it. It lends space and expertise to a small group of students at the University of Hartford, who every year build a small prototype car in a warehouse on United’s campus. As of last week, the students were scheduled to be showing their car to judges from the Society of Automotive Engineers as part of a student competition.
“That’s why they [United] get the big decal on the car,” said Steven Osuch, 22, readying the car for a trip to judging in Detroit.
As the crow flies, United sits directly behind Abbot Ball Co., a nearly century old manufacturer of ball bearings and other metal products. More than 84 people work in the factory, which is tucked away on Suburban Place.
Although known for its industrial quality bearings, Abbott in recent years has branched out to sell its small metal spheres to jewelry makers, which use them in metal stud earrings.
Rob Rowlson, West Hartford’s economic development officer, said the company’s success in an industry that’s faced increasing pressure from overseas manufacturers is a credit to the management and ownership of Abbott, which is headed by CEO Roger Bond.
Kenneth J. St. Onge is associate editor of the Hartford Business Journal.
