Manufacturing

This is a tale about a jewelry company still located in Providence. That fact alone might be considered newsworthy to some, but to owners Evelyn and Michael Guarino it’s a story about weathering the most difficult economic time this country has seen since the 1920s. May 19

President Barack Obama couldn’t get a national version of Georgia’s popular on-the-job-training program for the unemployed through Congress, but local companies and other supporters of the idea hope a similar program will be created in Rhode Island this year. May 19

Everyone wants American-made, says Raymond W. Fogarty, director of the John H. Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University, and that’s a reason to pay attention to what he calls a manufacturing renaissance, despite a widely held sentiment that sector has all but disappeared. May 19

PolyWorks’ biggest problem last year was finding enough people to triple the size of its workforce. Business has been very good for the North Smithfield designer of foams, plastics and gels, according to co-owner and Executive Vice President Roger LaFlamme. The best news is that it is only expected to get better.# May 19

NORTH KINGSTOWN – Toray Plastics (America) Inc. announced this month that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has granted the company Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS) certification for single-service products. May 19

Industrial production in the U.S. climbed more than forecast in April, propelled by gains in auto manufacturing and utility use. May 16

The Plastics Group of America has entered into an agreement to purchase the Jules Desurmont Worsted Mill in order to add 240,000 square feet of space to its operations, the company announced late Monday. May 15

Nortek Inc.’s net loss narrowed to $1.2 million, or 8 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $21.1 million, or $1.40 per share, during the same period in 2011, the company announced late Thursday. May 11

Although the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area holds only 0.5 percent of the nation’s 11.5 million manufacturing jobs, the metro area ranked 28th out of 100 in the U.S. for number of manufacturing jobs according to a new report comparing the largest metro areas in the country by the Brookings Institute. May 10

An index of Rhode Island’s leading economic indicators - produced by PBN and e-forecasting.com - rose 1.1 percent in March - the fifth consecutive month that it increased. May 8