Founded in 1920 as a manufacturer of silk yarns, Concordia now occupies more than 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space and has grown to become a leading producer of synthetic yarns and threads for traditional textile applications. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Concordia was losing ground to cheaper production overseas. But instead of shutting down the company like so many other Rhode Island textile manufacturing companies, president and CEO Randall Spencer adapted and took the company’s fiber-handling expertise a new level. Concordia used textile science to expand its capabilities into engineered products including advanced composites for aerospace, filtration media, power transmission belts, sailcloth and many other applications.
In 2005, Concordia acquired the tissue engineering scaffold assets of Albany International Research Company including equipment and the processes for making the absorbable material. Concordia is now able to produce a variety of non-woven bio-absorbable polymer substrates. It is not uncommon for Concordia to design and build its own machinery for a particular application. This has helped customers realize competitive advantages and tremendous cost savings.
From its core textile business to their engineered applications and biomedical products, Concordia‘s common thread — a dedication to manufacturing excellence — has never wavered.
