[caption id="attachment_24524" align="alignright" width="150"] Bob Prybutok, president of Polymer Technologies[/caption]

Polymer Technologies is in the business of manufacturing and supplying composites for controlling noise or heat. Its products are used in a host of industries, from agriculture to aerospace to transportation and the military.

For example, life inside a heavy truck can be noisy, to say the least - so Polymer developed POLYDAMP Acoustical Barrier Floor-Mats, a family of heavy-duty floor mats consisting of a loaded vinyl acoustical barrier, a non-skid, abrasion- resistant wear surface and a de-coupler layer.

Additionally, when an equipment's operators or components need to be kept at very stable temperatures, Polymer's POLYDAMP Low Emissivity Foam, a lightweight composite insulation material, addresses all three thermal issues: conduction, convection and radiation.

From Humvees to Boeing jets and Cummins diesel engines, if there's a need to control noise or thermal output, Polymer Technologies is on the job. But when Bob Prybutok founded the company in 1989, he had just six employees and 15,000 square feet of space in Newark, Del.

These days, the company does more than $20 million a year in sales.

It has an 87,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing facility in Newark, and a workforce of about 100 employees. "And, we'll continue to grow," said Prybutok, who holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University.

Polymer Technologies acquired a Massachusetts-based maker of vibration isolation technology in 2014. More acquisitions could be in Polymer Technology's future, Prybutok said. Revenue could grow to between $50 million and $80 million within five years, and exports, including those to Mexico and Canada, account for between 10"“15 percent of sales.

Being located in Delaware has a number of advantages, according to Prybutok, who is active with several manufacturing and business organizations in the state. Delaware has a large number of skilled, experienced manufacturing workers. Access to the Port of Wilmington, rail lines, Philadelphia International Airport and Interstate 95 make it easy to move products and people up and down the East Coast.

"I'm a fan of Delaware," Prybutok said. The state has "a great climate to start a business."

Prybutok said he expects to grow his Newark workforce in the next few years, and he's expecting that President Donald Trump's pledge to increase spending on the nation's infrastructure could lead to more business for his company.

This article appeared in the premiere issue of Delaware Innovation Magazine, an overview of the state's cutting edge industries and the people leading them. See the whole issue here.