🔒Knowledge. Facts. Experience. After loss, widowed CEO turned Hudson firm into global manufacturer

In 2008, Svetlana Aptekman found herself a newly widowed mother to two teenagers, and suddenly, the sole leader of the company she and her husband had built from the ground up. Born and raised in Moscow, Aptekman was on a work trip to the U.S. in 1991 when she met her future husband, Alexander Aptekman. That same year, they married and began working on a company set to become Hi-Gear Products, a Hudson-based manufacturer of car maintenance products. Over the next 14 years, they moved Hi-Gear through a number of operational models, including white-labeling, before purchasing their own Leominster manufacturing facility in 2005. Then they hit the ground running, launching 200 proprietary automotive products, including diesel additives, fuel additives, and oil treatments. Today, Hi-Gear produces more than 4,000 unique product formulations sold to 45 customers in more than 30 countries. The company employs 32 permanent and 22 temp workers, 75% of whom are women, throughout its headquarters and 380,000 square feet of manufacturing space at its Leominster and Fitchburg. “You cannot be stagnant,” said Aptekman, the owner of Hi-Gear. As Hi-Gear expands into automotive care products and household cleaners, Aptekman is emphasizing sustainability while increasing women’s representation in the industry.

Going green

When Alexander passed in 2008, Aptekman determined it was time for a change at Hi-Gear. “I decided we need to create something else. We need to do something else,” said Aptekman. Her first move? Creating a more eco-friendly business. In 2009, Aptekman secured a federal grant to install solar panels on one of her Fitchburg warehouse buildings. Two years later, she added panels to another two, and today, all of Hi-Gear’s manufacturing sites in Fitchburg and Leominster run completely on solar power. The panels create so much power that Aptekman sells overage to Fitchburg’s Wastewater Division. After removing acetone, ethylene glycol, and methanol from its manufacturing processes, Hi-Gear received recognition from the Massachusetts Senate and was named a 2020 Manufacturer of the Year by the state House of Representatives. Aptekman then used a 2022 grant from UMass Lowell to purchase new filler machines, which have since eliminated 19,000 pounds of waste per year.

For Aptekman, going green is central to both her business and her morals. “It's environmentally healthy and it's good for your health and good for the future generation,” she said. While Aptekman’s drive for sustainability comes from the heart, the numbers show it can actually cost companies to not go green, said Stephen Kmiotek, professor of practice at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s chemical engineering department. “One of the biggest production costs in the chemical business is energy,” Kmiotek said. “It's just good business to be as sustainable as we can.” In particular, waste is a massive expense for chemical manufacturers because of the cost of safe disposal, he said. It’s not just the chemicals and their byproducts; systems like those used in filtration, insulation, and ventilation all need to be safely handled.

Women’s representation

Ten years ago, Hi-Gear entered the household cleaner space, manufacturing products for nationwide clients, including kitchen cabinet creams, wood cleaners, and stain removers.

One of those clients, Parker & Bailey in Walpole, sells Hi-Gear-produced cleaners at retailers including Walmart, The Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and Stop & Shop. Another anonymous client sells Hi-Gear cleaners for stainless steel, granite, and wood cabinetry at Target. More of Aptekman’s clients are looking to make their products as eco-friendly as possible, including removing dyes and harmful additives, she said. Hi-Gear is constantly working on new formulations, and as the automotive industry creates more hybrid and battery electric vehicles, Hi-Gear is producing products specifically to increase their performance and reduce wear and tear. This continuous expansion is the result of years of work by Aptekman to prove herself in the industry. Starting off in their careers, women are often dismissed by men in both the manufacturing and automotive fields, she said. Aptekman found herself having to take 10 extra steps just to prove her credibility, often being the only woman in the room. “You have to be assertive, and you cannot put up with anyone’s BS or someone being dismissive,” she said.

Unfortunately, Aptekman’s experience isn’t unique. While women’s presence in manufacturing is growing, especially over the past few years, women are still very much underrepresented in the field, said Bonnie Perkins, board chair of the Massachusetts chapter of the Women in Manufacturing Association, an Ohio-based nonprofit trade association. “We just want to make sure that we support these women going into manufacturing roles,” said Perkins. The efforts of Aptekman and WiM are paying off, with Perkins saying she’s seeing more women in leading roles. “It is changing the culture, adding that diversity into the teams,” she said. Women especially tend to bring a collaborative and problem-solving approach to leadership, Perkins said. More diverse teams reduce groupthink, leading to broader perspectives, greater profits, and increased innovation. Without women’s perspectives, manufacturing facilities are often designed around male workers; that can mean production lines are set too high or tools are unnecessarily heavy. For the next generation of female manufacturing leaders working to make the industry more equitable for all, Aptekman has a piece of advice: “Instead of ‘Kill with kindness,’ you kill with knowledge,” she said. “You kill with facts. You kill with experience.” Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.