Whither the Workforce: Behind the Scenes of Ulster County Manufacturing Powerhouses Fair-Rite and Elna Magnetics

by Zac Shaw for Ulster Strong

There’s a material woven into the fabric of modern life — essential to our electronics, ever-present in our daily routines — yet most people have no idea it exists or how it works. But here in Ulster County, manufacturing experts with multi-generational experience use the material to produce components that are critical in practically every electronic device sold.

The material is ferrite, a magnetic ceramic made from iron oxide mixed with other metals, used to suppress high-frequency noise in electronic circuits and components. Two companies at the center of ferrite-based manufacturing have lived in Ulster County for decades: Fair-Rite in Wallkill, NY and Elna Magnetics in Saugerties, NY. Both are leaders in their industry – Fair-Rite is in fact the largest supplier of ferrite material components in the entire country. Our modern world simply could not function or exist without the contributions of these longtime local manufacturers.

Demand for ferrite-based products has only increased over time and shows no sign of stopping. Learning about the history of the ferrite industry in Ulster County is fascinating on its own, but in speaking with the leaders of these companies, one gets a unique behind-the-scenes look into how the manufacturing sector helps drive the local economy, what challenges it has faced and is facing, and how manufacturing can survive and even thrive in an area more known for its tourism and a world that’s rapidly changing.

For Fair-Rite President Rachael Parker, magnetic ceramics has always been a family business. Founded in 1952 by her father Richard Parker, the company has survived countless economic tides and continues to dominate their industry in America. She emphasized that Fair-Rite’s continued success is largely due to their team of uniquely skilled workers.

“We have over a hundred employees in Wallkill,” Parker said. “We have a facility in Southern Illinois, and we have about 12 to 15 employees there. We also have a manufacturing facility in China, and that has about a hundred employees as well.”

Fair-Rite’s masterful and critical move to offshore some manufacturing to China kept it competitive, and by keeping the most critical parts of the business in the U.S., they leaped over many pitfalls that other companies were not as smart to avoid.

“China has always been the go-to,” she said, “but there’s a lot of dangers with China that I don’t think people appreciate. They don’t respect IP [intellectual property]. They work six days a week, ten hour days. We wouldn’t do that. And there’s always that inherent risk if it’s a communist country – they give but they can take away.”

Given the recent tariff activity, Elna Magnetics Vice President James Ferraro also has China on his mind. His company moved to Saugerties from Woodstock in 2009 with 38 employees. As another national leader in ferrite product manufacturing, Elna runs many tens of thousands of square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in Saugerties, along with a small distribution center in Southern California.

“The majority of ferrite comes out of China,” he said. “None of our suppliers that we get our raw material from make any product in this country. Ferroxcube in Poland is our largest supplier by far. We're their second largest customer in the world in terms of dollars purchased. So we pay a 10% tariff on that, and we're the importer of record. Everybody else makes their product in various other European or Asian countries, either India or China.”

What has been the impact of the recent trade war and Trump tariffs on local manufacturers?

“It’s affecting us from the point of view that it’s time consuming,” he said. “I have another meeting after this call to discuss tariffs again and where we're at… it's a scramble right now. Customers are trying to get under the wire, asking ‘Is my product tariffed? Can I take it earlier? Is it not tariffed?’ It's affecting us from the point of view that it's creating work. We have not seen a degradation in business yet. I'm not sure that's not coming. I think the summer's gonna be slow, just my opinion.”

Both Ferraro and Parker saw potential in recent trade policy changes to bring jobs and manufacturing back into the country, but it remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges to find skilled workers to train on the manufacturing floor, particularly in the Hudson Valley.

“We've always had an issue finding a certain skill level of worker,” Parker said. “Decades ago you would be able to find toolmakers everywhere, and now it's really dwindled down. All of our equipment is pretty old. I mean, Fair-Rite’s been around for over 75 years. A lot of our equipment is older than I am. So finding people to work on that equipment or can set that equipment up has been the challenge.”

Parker acknowledged the added difficulty of attracting employees to a business that’s “not as sexy as some of the other businesses in the area,” but both Parker and Ferarro agreed that the pendulum on manufacturing jobs may be slowly swinging back in their favor, with respectable salaries and a sense of job security that are becoming harder to find in America.

“I think we're slowly changing the stigma that manufacturing is nasty, dirty, menial work.” Ferraro observed. “We have some really highly compensated hourly manufacturing employees. It's not this underpaying, unrewarding type of work.”

Ferraro is very active in workforce development, sitting on several committees in the area.

“The northern tip of Ulster County down to the New York City line, both sides of the river are crying the same story. They can't find people. It's a problem,” he said.

Though Elna Magnetics offers training opportunities, Ferraro said they have had limited success sourcing local tradespeople due to an ever-shrinking workforce. He somewhat surprisingly cites temp agencies as a more effective recruiting tool for developing long-term employees.

“We still get letters that land on my desk – move to Virginia, move to the Carolinas, do this, do that. And you know, the offers are enticing,” Ferarro said.

“But part of the problem that we have – and I use the word problem loosely – no one really knows what it is that we do and people aren't walking the street with knowledge of how to machine ferrite. So if we were to pick up and move somewhere, replacing our employee base would be almost impossible.”

While recent developments by business and political leaders are promising, Ferraro said there’s still the chicken-and-egg problem of trying to grow or locate a business in Ulster County when finding workers is a significant issue.

“With iPark 87, we had a conversation yesterday in our Workforce Development Board meeting – if a 500- or a 1,000-person employer comes into the area, that'd be wonderful,” he said. “I don't look at employers moving in as competition. I look at it as a benefit because it increases the employment base and helps everybody have more access to people. But if a 1,000-person employer comes into iPark, where are they gonna hire these people? You know, I can't hire one or two people. How are you gonna hire a thousand? So that's part of the problem.”

Or, as Parker put it, “If you don't have the manufacturing, you don't have the people to train to do the manufacturing.”

Despite the inherent challenges of finding local talent, both business leaders said their love of the area and desire to live and work there with their families was a driving factor behind making manufacturing work in Ulster County.

“I grew up here and I was born and raised here, it's just a beautiful area with a strong sense of community,” Parker said. “It’s still a small town. I'm happy to see that Wallkill went through a bit of a transition – there were a lot of businesses that went out and now I see this revitalization happening. I see that throughout the Hudson Valley and throughout Ulster County.

“I'm a big believer in faith, and God writes in crooked lines. Whatever's happening, it's all for a better good. And I just trust in that. Just have faith and be kind. Trust in what's happening.”

For Ferraro, the fight to improve the county’s workforce is similarly personal.

“I run two businesses here in the county and I have two very young kids who I'd like to see be successful locally,” he said. “If their future takes them somewhere else because a job opportunity ends them in Texas, then I wish them well. But I want them to have the opportunity to stay here should they want to and not be forced to leave.”

The general reticence to develop new businesses and industry exhibited by many area residents (the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality) is frustrating to Ferraro because it doesn’t account for the future.

“I could take the position: I have a house. I have a business, I have a job. I have a full workforce right now, so I don't care. But it's being shortsighted for everybody else who maybe can't afford a house or can't find a job that allows them to afford a house. I think if we want the next generation to want to stay and make their mark on the area, we're not really showing them that we're opening the door to have that opportunity if we're not willing to do anything.”