"Profits From Abroad"
Small Business Success in
the Global Marketplace
Polyonics
By Carlos Cunha, Northeast Export Magazine
About four years ago,
recognizing the shift in electronics manufacturing to Asia, a
New Hampshire
labeling
and
chemicals
company by the
name of Polyonics decided to go to Singapore to attend a trade
exhibition.
“We made a decision to spend the money,” company head
James R. Williams said. “We were on tight budgets and
this was an expensive event. However, the overwhelming response
we received made it very clear that we had
the opportunity waiting for us.”
Explains Williams: “The Department of Commerce’s Gold
Key Service seemed to be worth a shot. On our next trip to
Asia, with their help, we had made arrangements to visit with 18
companies in four key cities – Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai
and Hong Kong. Soon thereafter, we opened an office in Singapore,
with the decision to try it for one year.
"Our Singapore person
moved quickly to gain sales momentum in Singapore, Malaysia,
Hong Kong
and Taiwan. Based on the
incremental-but-exponential successes here, within a year we made
the decision to open our Shanghai office and hire a Chinese National
to work for us there.”
Founded in May of 1995 by Williams,
and located in Westmoreland, N.H., on the Vermont border, Polyonics
develops, manufactures and
sells label materials for use in bar code applications. The company
employs 25 workers and is a global leader in label and barcode
technology.
“We pride ourselves on providing our customers with top-quality,
state-of-the-art technological applications for their critical
needs, exceptional customer service and a creative and skilled
management team,” said Williams.
Polyonics traces
its beginnings to Imtec, a small barcode equipment and labeling
company in Chester, Vermont. Imtec
was started by Williams in a garage in Chester after he left
Markem Corporation
in Keene, NH, in June of 1982.
Imtec quickly established a reputation for
itself as a maker of unique barcode labeling equipment. It went public in 1984,
moved to Bellows Falls, VT, in 1985 and grew to employ more than
100 people. Williams left Imtec in April 1995, and founded
Polyonics.
While barcodes are its specialty, Polyonics
is actually a chemical company – a specialty formulating
chemical company.
“We manufacture high-performance coatings, inks, marking
materials and adhesives for our corporate and industrial clients,” said
Williams. “Our materials are used to mark a variety
of products and must be adaptable to a wide range of weather and
temperature conditions.”
Polyonics products are used in a wide variety
of weather and temperature conditions. The firm’s labels,
though environmentally-friendly, are designed to function at
temperatures as hot as 1,400 degrees
Fahrenheit and in the cold of outer space.
“These types of products are usually sophisticated, high-tech
products with technical complexity,” William said. “Having
a bar code label adhere to a coil of hot steel at 1400 degrees
is a lot different than the paper labels used in retail stores
or at deli counters.”
Polyonics’ hardy bar codes are used in
steel and aluminum plants, in the manufacture of circuit boards,
and on the wires
and cable harnesses of aircraft. Its clients include Intel, IBM,
Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems.
