Polyonics Positions Itself in the International Marketplace

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.”

Since then, the firm’s international trade has been impressive enough to earn it the Small Business Administration’s regional Exporter of the Year award.

“We were clearly impressed with the steps Polyonics had taken to position itself in the international marketplace,” said Terry Fisher, the Department of Commerce’s international trade specialist.

The Exporter of the Year award is presented to a small business on the basis of growing size, sales and profit through exporting, creative overseas marketing strategies, effective solutions to export-related problems, and voluntary assistance to other firms engaged in exporting.

Polyonics’ exports are expected to account for more than half of the company’s sales by the end of this year.

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.”

Polyonics had already won the state SBA exporting award and competed with companies throughout the six New England states to win the regional accolade.

SBA’s New Hampshire district director, William Phillips, said the firm epitomized what New Hampshire small businesses are about: innovation, customer service and outstanding management. Dawn Wivell, the director of the New Hampshire International Trade Resource Center, said her organization worked with Polyonics for many years and was proud of its achievement.

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.