A Chemist and an Engineer

Polyonics, Inc., was founded in 1995 by Jim Williams, a PhD Chemist. A few months later, Bruce Smith, an Electrical Engineer, joined the venture. Their careers were intertwined in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire long before becoming partners at Polyonics. As a dynamic duo, they first put their strong R&D experience to work in the barcode labeling and printing industry.

In the early 1990’s, Jim and Bruce had a keen interest in applying their expertise to create high temperature coated polyimide materials. They wanted to develop printed barcode ID and tracking labels that resisted harsh PCB manufacturing processes. Polyonics was born.

Throughout the decade, the pair, along with a dedicated group of employees, diligently focused on customer needs to build and sell a reliable product line. All the while, they were competing against, and winning business from, much larger, more established companies. As the founders explain it, “We became experts at solving challenges others just couldn’t crack.”

In 2000, Polyonics took a major leap of faith by opening a small sales office in Singapore to serve the burgeoning circuit board market. It proved to be a strategic step at a critical time, ultimately helping the company become a trusted supplier around the globe.

Jim and Bruce had a unique relationship; their personalities and strengths complemented each other. Jim was the risk-taker and Bruce was the risk-mitigator. Both knew how to leverage creativity and innovation to create new products and new markets. And each supported the other through the twists and turns of entrepreneurship. As a production manager once put it, “Jim jumps off the cliff and Bruce makes the parachute on the way down.”

The Employees Have It

When it came time to retire, Jim and Bruce could think of no better way to pass the baton than to make Polyonics an employee-owned company. It was their way of acknowledging the contributions of the many people who made the company’s success possible.