AUBURN — Peter "Mack" Maciulewicz has always believed his company should be versatile.
And Mack Studios has become just that since Peter's late father, Casimir, founded the company in his garage in 1965. The displays and other products it designs and builds can be found on the floors of retailers, museums, trade shows and more. Casimir, and then Peter, believed in being versatile because if one of those areas of work slows down, the others can help the company pick up the slack.
That has perhaps been truer than ever for Mack Studios since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in March.
"We started as a trade show company, but we haven't done one in 12 months," Maciulewicz told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ during a tour of the company in February.
"But we had our best year last year."
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Mack Studios had its best year in 2020 because it had the talent and the technology — and the versatility — to adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19, Maciulewicz said.
Namely, the Auburn company began making personal protective equipment almost immediately after the pandemic began. First, it produced about 100 face shields that it donated to the Auburn Fire Department in early April. мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼'s coverage of the donation led to a $250,000 equipment order, Maciulewicz said.
Then, Mack Studios developed a line of protective shields for use in bars, conference rooms, lobbies and other close-quarter environments. And that led the company to do about $1.5 million in business last year, with the same amount projected for this year. One telephone company alone is spending $1 million to equip its call center with Mack Shields for its employees, Maciulewicz said.
"This just shows our capabilities," he said. "That we were able to keep functioning and then go to our customers and just be relevant, and keep people working."
This year, Mack Studios will ride that momentum to a $1.38 million expansion. It will add 25,000 square feet of warehousing to a neighboring 50,000-square-foot facility already in use by the Technology Park Boulevard company. The expansion has received site plan approval and will be supported by $205,899 in exemptions from the Auburn Industrial Development Authority. Maciulewicz thanked the authority, as well as the Cayuga Economic Development Agency, for its assistance. Construction of the expansion is planned for the spring and summer.
The expansion will also create six full-time jobs at Mack Studios over the next three years. Maciulewicz said the company is down 10 people from its usual workforce of 65, but he anticipates those people returning now that business is "coming alive." That workforce includes designers, engineers, technicians and more, all of whom share the ability to help Mack Studios realize the visions of its clients.
"The people here have a lot of talent, but they know that the bar is way up high. If they want to stay here, they have to hit that bar," he said. "And sometimes they go past it, which is great."
That talent has at its disposal the latest technology, such as a CNC fiberoptic laser machine that can cut 1-inch steel with a failure rate of less than 5%. With those resources, Mack Studios has been able to make its shields more than mere barriers against the virus. In addition to meeting that basic need, they offer both convenience and aesthetics.
The company's bar shields, for instance, have swivel joints so they can be deployed or not depending on whether the people on either side are strangers or acquaintances. Its office shields have fitted metal brackets so they fasten to the tops of partitions, without any need for screws or adhesives. And its shields can be manufactured with translucent graphics, such as the front of a fire truck on a children's desk shield that folds and has a handle for easy carrying to and from school, or the tropical foliage on the wheeled room dividers that Bijou Salon in Skaneateles bought.
The dividers are also in use at downtown restaurant Osteria Salina, where Maciulewicz beta tested the shield line, he said. The restaurant uses Mack's bar shields, too. Maciulewicz said the company sells those shields to a distributor in Syracuse, so he's not always privy where they're going — like The Krebs in Skaneateles, where he was pleasantly surprised to see them weeks ago.Â
As the orders for Mack Shields poured in, the company pursued other ways it could use its resources to meet needs during COVID-19. Maciulewicz said he researched and invested in ultraviolet technology, which can kill the virus, for possible use in future Mack Studios products. But he ultimately dropped the idea due to liability issues and the technology's low adoption rate.
More successful was the company's remote learning desk. Late last year, it designed, made and delivered 100 to several Cayuga County school districts, and is ready for more, Maciulewicz said.
As for Mack Shields, Maciulewicz doesn't see the need going away. Even after most people have been vaccinated against COVID-19, he believes masks, shields and other safeguards will continue to be used because of how they've proven against the flu this season. No matter what happens next, though, he believes more than ever that his company is versatile enough to handle it.
"We've changed from a designer with a shop to an institution," he said. "And I don't think this is anywhere near the end of what this company is capable of doing."
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Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter .