Vail Tours Local Manufacturers

Stafford – State Representative Kurt Vail (Somers/Stafford) recently toured two local manufacturers, American Woolen Company and Conval Inc. in order to tour the facilities and gain insight on how the manufacturing industry works first-hand.

In 2014 the American Woolen Company purchased Warren Mills, which has been a textile based mill since its founding in the 1800’s. Originally, Warren Mills was America’s most prominent manufacturer of fine camel hair and cashmere woolen fabrics. The mill now serves as American Woolen Company’s headquarters.

“I want to thank American Woolen’s C.E.O. Jacob Long for touring me at their headquarters right here in Stafford, they employ about 40 people at Warren Mills, many of which live locally,” said Rep. Vail. “Their business model is unique in the sense that they produce some textiles for wholesale and also sell some clothing lines directly out of their showroom located down in New York City.”

Conval Inc. has been in operation for the past 48 years, specializing in high pressure valves. These valves are shipped to power plants across the country as well as internationally, with most foreign orders shipping to China. These valves are also machined to withstand high temperatures along with high volumes of water pressure.

“Frank Silver, owner of Conval Inc., and Don Curtin, president of the company, were extremely helpful in explaining how their products are machined and shipped to large-scale domestic and foreign trade markets,” commented Rep. Vail, “Roughly 130 employees come to work daily at this facility, again a lot of them are local.”

According to Vail he will continue to visit local businesses to gain a better understanding of how the legislature can come up with policies to support manufacturing.

In regard to the industrial manufacturing climate Conval Inc.’s President Don Curtain mentioned, “If I was the owner of Conval, and happened to be 35 years younger, I would move to a more business friendly state like Texas.”

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