Many high-tech fighter jets, helicopters, above-ground storage tanks and rescue vehicles share something in common with A&M Industrial Park in Meriden.
It’s Safe-T-Tank Corp., a five-person manufacturer that has called the area home for the last 20 years.
From its 11,200-square-foot factory on Powers Drive, Safe-T-Tank custom builds movable and stationary fuel tanks for McDonnell-Douglas, Boeing, NASA and other military and aerospace organizations.
The tanks are made to fill aircraft with jet fuel or JP8, another, less flammable type of jet propellant made from kerosene.
Safe-T-Tank also makes above-ground storage tanks and leak-detection systems for gasoline, diesel and other fuels, as well as bilge-water storage systems used by the Navy, said Vice President and co-owner Peter A. Bartis.
It was building those devices that first got Safe-T-Tank started, originally as a contractor for Northeast Utilities, Bartis said.
Over the years, the company has branched out from building devices for utilities to making devices for the military and government, a diversification that has helped stabilize its business. Two years ago, Bartis and his wife purchased their building after having leased it for 18 years, he said.
It’s also made some very unusual custom products for the military. For the Fort Hood military base in Texas, Safe-T-Tank has built “tanks on wheels” – 400-gallon “bowsers” that can quickly fuel and defuel planes and helicopters on the runway. It’s the only device like it, Bartis said.
Powers Drive, a small cul-de-sac off of Old Colony Road, not far from the center of Meriden, is home to a number of other small manufacturers as well.
Aeroswiss USA is one of them. The 13-person machine shop occupies about 8,000 square feet, and specializes in doing custom manufacturing for the aerospace and medical industries, said owner John Gullo.
A former manufacturing equipment salesman, Gullo said his shop is noteworthy for the high-end equipment it uses, notably its CNC swiss-machining devices.
Gullo started the company about eight years ago in Waterbury, and moved to A&M four years ago. In that time, he’s doubled the number of employees at the company.
It’s a fair bet he learned how to excel in manufacturing from his father, Tony Gullo, whose TG Industries machine shop abuts his son’s rear parking lot in the park.
Although not technically inside the park, the elder Gullo’s manufacturing business has made the small sliver of Meriden its home base for over 20 years. TG now occupies about 10,000 square feet and has about 15 employees.
Working at the industrial park has become something of a family affair for the Gullos. Since TG also does contract manufacturing — and has machines that are complementary to those owned by his son’s shop — the two often work on jobs together.
In addition to the machine shops, two metal plating companies also call A&M home: Bar Plating Inc., a two-person manufacturer, specializes in plating nickel and chrome, and JEM Metals, which plates silver, gold and nickel.
Kenneth J. St. Onge is managing editor of the Hartford Business Journal.
