Focusing on local parts and production, some manufacturers have been rewarded during the pandemic.
Clogged ports. Product shortages overseas. Overburdened container ships. Price increases. For businesses that rely on the global supply chain, this holiday season has become particularly stressful. But at manufacturers like Nanotronics, a science technology company in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that sources most of its components locally, things are going swimmingly. “There is nothing we have right now that is behind schedule,” said Matthew Putman, the chief executive of the company, which makes items like robotic microscopes. “We don’t rely on ships right now that are stuck at ports in Los Angeles.” Nanotronics makes many of its components at its 45,000-square-foot office and factory space in Brooklyn. What it can’t make, it acquires locally. Sheet metal comes from Ferra Designs, about 20 feet away in the Navy Yard complex, which also houses 3-D printing and finishing services the company uses. Nanotronics buys its cameras in Manhattan’s Financial District and its plastics and springs in Brooklyn, from businesses in Williamsburg and Sunset Park. Early in the pandemic, several businesses in the Navy Yard pivoted to produce some 10 million units of personal protective equipment when masks and hospital gowns were scarce. Now companies there like Nanotronics are successfully steering clear of logjams in the supply chain wrought by the pandemic by sourcing and manufacturing hard-to-get items locally. “We just got a call yesterday from a company that does this gene therapy that is really important for vaccines and therapeutics,” Mr. Putman said. “They need a machine that no one else can make for them right now. I know we will be able to get it to them quickly.” Businesses that emphasize local production have been rewarded during this tumultuous time. They’ve been able to fulfill orders quickly for existing clients and have attracted new ones who can’t get what they need from manufacturers overseas. “We’ve had people reach out to us to start new businesses who thought they would be sourcing abroad,” said Joanna Reynolds, the associate director of Made in NYC, an initiative of the Pratt Center for Community Development that supports local manufacturers and makers.
