 A CONVERSATION WITH AMY DEAN
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| Wiltec has prospered by focusing on niches, primarily housewares,
institutional products, and custom molding, and by being flexible and innovative in
sourcing. "We've never gotten big but we've always been industrious and
creative," Dean notes. "But that's not to say I'm not dying to grow."
Prisons have, in fact, been in Wiltec's marketing plan. The company has for 18 years been
molding a sturdy hand mirror of ABS for sale in prison commissaries. Building on that
business, it broadened its line to include trays and other tableware for prisons.
Dean says the prison industry offers good growth potential, a fact she views with mixed
feelings. More prisons mean more business, but it's also, she notes, a sad commentary on
society. Her entrepreneurial drive, mean while, got a boost from an unlikely source - government regulation. "Our- biggest customer in the prison market requested that we become a minority-owned company, so it could fulfill its set-asides," or money targeted by state and federal governments to promote minority owned businesses. While Dean never thought of herself as a minority businessperson, or her firm as being in need of government set-asides, she recognized that this was merely another rule for doing business in a market dominated by government it money. Thus, Amy ResinWare was incorporated this year, and took over all the prison business of Wiltec. Business so far has been encouraging for Amy ResinWare, The company exhibited at two prison trade Shows last summer, Dean is expanding her contacts in the market, and broadening the product line. Thus far, two contracts have come in, for $110,000. Plans are also being made to expand the 10,000 sq. ft Wiltec molding shop, where the prisonware is produced, by adding two machines, if necessary. Selling to prisons, she notes, is challenging. it's extremely competitive, not easy to get inside to meet with the people you want to sell, and products must be designed not only for utility, but to thwart prisoners from using them as weapons, particularly as shivs, or homemade knives. One of the trays she molds, for example, was redesigned to prevent its being broken into jagged pieces that could be used to stab someone. A basic selling point for all Amy ResinWare products, in fact, is that they are "Shiv-proof." Prison business also means developing specialized products. One that the company is working on is a blood-emergency kit, a locked, highly visible, sturdy wall-mounted box that contains protective gear as well as first-aid Supplies for incidents involving blood. Dean notes that inmates infected with contagious diseases sometimes use their blood as a weapon. When this happens, or when a fight breaks out, guards need to protect themselves from contact with the blood. Dean grew up in Leominster, with the plastics industry. Her father, now 73, was operations manager for PVC maker Borden Chemical Co. In 1972, he left Borden to start Wiltec Inc., a small processor specializing in housewares and custom molding. Ten years ago, Dean, a headhunter in an executive search firm, told her father she wanted to join Wiltec. "It had always been my dream to work with my father," she says. While the business consumes much of her day, Dean makes time for family and community. She’s a devoted mother of two sons, and is active in local schools. She also serves as a local board member of the National Plastics Center and in Leominster. -Patrick A. Toensmeier
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