Delaware company expands, adds jobs all in the name of going green

A Newark, DE. manufacturing company is expanding and hiring after getting a loan from the state’s economic development office.

A Newark manufacturing company is expanding with the help of a $645,000 loan from the Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO).  PTM Manufacturing, which makes indoor and outdoor HVAC ducts, plans to hire 23 new employees in the next year.  The company could add as many as 67 jobs within three years.

PTM has developed insulation for outdoor duct-work called Techna-Duc.  One of the company’s owners Pete Faverio says the insulation improves energy efficiency and has a longer life than tradition duct insulation.  Faverio admits that the current forms of outdoor duct work insulation do work, but he says, “They don’t work like they should, and they don’t have sustainability, and they don’t have the energy efficiency that our products carry.”

DEDO director Alan Levin says it’s private businesses like PTM that will lead the state out of its economic trouble, not government officials.  “Ultimately, the health and vitality of our economic future lies with your efforts and your accomplishments,” Levin told the workers at PTM.

Governor Jack Markell (D) says when trying to encourage businesses to move to Delaware or expand in Delaware, some may consider the First State’s small size a weakness.  He says the administration tries to use the state’s compact size to it’s advantage.  “The Delaware story is all about being faster and more responsive.  We’re not going to be a state that can write a bigger check to a company to entice them to come here.  That’s not the battle we’re going to win.”  Markell says, “We’re going to be faster, and we’re going to be more responsive, and more nimble, and more agile.”