Local Voices
Sonics Celebrates 45 years with event attended by Governor, Congresswoman, and Newtown First Selectman
Sonics & Materials, Inc. celebrated its 45th anniversary with a gala luncheon on March 20th at their headquarters in Newtown, CT, marking 45 years of manufacturing in the state of Connecticut as a leading supplier of plastics welding systems.
Sonics & Materials, Inc. was started in 1969 in Danbury, CT by Robert S. Soloff (founder and ongoing President and CEO) and his daughter, Lauren Soloff is executive vice president.
During the past 45 years, Sonics has cemented its role as an ultrasonic industry pioneer, acquiring a total of 22 patents (plus 7 pending) for technological innovations, continuing the work started by Bob Soloff who in 1965 was awarded the original patent for the ultrasonic method of welding thermoplastic parts, a groundbreaking technique that is now used universally across many market sectors, including the automotive, appliance, medical device and electronics fields.
Find out what's happening in Newtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The company was joined in its celebration, which also coincided with Bob Soloff’s 75th birthday, by several local, state and federal officials, and included remarks by Governor Malloy, Congresswoman Esty (from the state’s 5th Congressional District), Newtown First Selectman Llodra and a representative from Senator Blumenthal’s office, as well as the presenting of proclamations and certificates of recognition.
A popular topic in the remarks was the importance of a skilled and educated work force, with both the Governor and Congresswoman Esty commenting upon the importance of human capital to the growth of precision manufacturing companies. In fact, in his remarks, Bob Soloff mentioned the importance of local and state technical schools and university programs in providing young people who have training to support the technology that businesses such as Sonics invest in.
Find out what's happening in Newtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As evidence of his commitment to improve and support this educational environment, Governor Malloy cited the engineering class of the University of Connecticut, which is now 40% larger than it was this time last year and which will ultimately be 70% larger.
Mr. Soloff also remarked that if you drive a car, your tires and many other auto parts are manufactured using ultrasonic equipment; likewise, if you own a cell phone, ultrasonic equipment is used to weld the batteries. Ultrasonics is indeed ubiquitous today and Sonics alone has sold over 80,000 ultrasonic machines in the past 45 years as well as at least 300,000 ultrasonic tools.
When Bob Soloff started Sonics in 1969 it was with one employee; today Sonics currently employs a total of 75 people at its corporate headquarters along with a worldwide network of distributors and representatives, many of whom traveled to Newtown to partake in the celebration.
