Newtown ManufacturingTo Close This Summer
Newtown Manufacturing
To Close This Summer
By Steve Bigham
Newtown Manufacturing Company, Inc., will close its doors for good later this summer after more than 50 years of business in town. The screw machine parts manufacturer was purchased by the Iseli Company last month and will be moved to Plymouth, Connecticut, this summer.
Newtown Manufacturing, one of Newtownâs oldest businesses, will be integrated in with Iseli Co, which this week offered positions to 75-80 percent of the Newtown employees.
The sale of the company marks the end of an institution in Newtown for Bill and Evelyn Watts and Ed Weber, Jr, who maintained a tradition of quality products first started by Edwin Weber and Hans Pietsch in 1946.
Bill and Evelyn Watts, both longtime Newtown residents, admit the decision to sell was an emotional one. Saying goodbye to the business they have shared together for more than 40 years has not been easy.
âItâs bittersweet. We both have mixed emotions,â Mrs Watts admitted. âWeâve been part of Newtownâs business community for so long. That alone will be a big change.â
 Nevertheless, both agreed it was time to retire, and with no family members to take over the business, selling the company was the best option. The fact that most of their valued employees have been offered positions with Iseli Co has the former owners feeling comforted.
âThis was the best solution to a problem. The problem was what to do with the business in a way that didnât hurt our long-term employees,â said Mr Watts, who has served as vice president and office manager since 1960. Mr Weber is president and plant manager.
Iseli Co, located just north of Waterbury, also specializes in screw machine parts manufacturing and was founded by Ernie Iseli in 1946, the same year Newtown Manufacturing first opened its shop along Route 25 in Botsford.
Terms of the sale were not released, although Mr Weber said the sale involved transfer of the business name, the right to re-hire Newtown Manufacturingâs 22 employees, and several hundred thousands of dollars worth of equipment. The equipment includes a combination of computerized pneumatically controlled machines and conventional machines.
Newtown Manufacturing actually struck the deal with Iseliâs parent company, Danaher Co of Washington, DC.
Evelyn Watts has worked for Newtown Manufacturing her entire adult life.
âA family business is like having a child â the commitment and the feelings and affection,â she said back in 1996 when the company celebrated its 50th birthday.
Family-Owned And       Operated Since 1946
In 1946, two German-trained toolmakers acted on the dream of operating their own business. Edwin Weber and Hans Pietsch, both of Sandy Hook, bought a blacksmith shop on South Main Street and converted it to a manufacturing plant for tools and precision machine parts for the electronics industry. Newtown Manufacturing was established.
Throughout its history, Newtown Manufacturing has always been operated by family members who have maintained a philosophy of âold fashioned quality, reliability, dependability with modern efficiency.â
Screw machine manufacturers do not usually produce screws. The parts produced on these machines are of a much more complex nature than common screws. Required accuracy on screw machine products are stringent â one ten thousandth of an inch, the equivalent of 1/20 the thickness of human hair in some cases.
The pieces created by Newtown Manufacturing ranged in size from .020 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter and are made of alloy steels, stainless steels, beryllium, copper, copper alloys, brass, aluminum, and machinable plastics. Other operations also occur at the 13,000 square foot plant. The end products made from these parts were used in aerospace, medical, precision instruments, RF connectors, life support systems, and hydraulic and pneumatic components.
In 1958, the owners razed the original wooden structure and built a 6,700-square-foot fireproof plant. Two years later, the second generation began running the company.
Until 1967, 70 percent of the business was tied to the electronics industry. However, that all changed when the owners decided to make their company less vulnerable to downturns in any one industry. They sought contracts ranging in diversity from the aerospace industry to the toy industry.
After the recession of the early 1980s forced a reduced work force, business began to pick up once again, creating a peak employment of 40 workers. More than half of the business had to do with products for the military. However, orders dropped unexpectedly by 20 percent in the early 1990s.
 Nevertheless, Newtown Manufacturing persevered.