In New York State, this economic ecosystem is bigger and broader than you might think. To connect the various links in the supply chain, FuzeHub helps organize Vitality in the Valley each year. This Manufacturing Expo is scheduled for June 2-3, 2026, at Herkimer College in Herkimer New York. Whether you join us as an exhibitor or as an attendee, it’s an event you won’t want to miss.

Why Exhibit at Vitality in the Valley?

Vitality in the Valley features an exhibit hall where you’ll find farmers, processors, co-packers, suppliers, fabrication shops, funders, technology providers, and food and beverage brands. As an exhibitor, you’ll be part of the action and have a table where you can showcase your products and expertise. Importantly, exhibitors can gain direct access to decision makers who are making sourcing decisions.

At last year’s event, Monica Cody of Farmstead 1868 met distributors, buyers, and potential resources that can support business growth. “We’ve made a ton of great contacts both for now and the future,” she explained. Melanie and Phil Metzer of Pep Schmear sold jars of their spicy pepper spread and made a retail connection that now carries its product.

As an exhibitor at Vitality in the Valley, you’ll also gain access to an exclusive reception on the evening of Tuesday, June 2^nd. Along with local cuisine and beverages, you’ll make connections that can lead to partnerships, pilot projects, and new business. It’s also a strategic opportunity to prepare for the following day, when the exhibit hall opens and attendees arrive.

Why Attend Vitality in the Valley?

Vitality in the Valley attendees can discover New York-made food and beverage products and connect with companies that are shaping how we eat and drink. Whether you’re a buyer, a distributor, a policymaker, or simply someone who cares about local agriculture, this enjoyable and informative event offers something for everyone.

Panel discussions and keynote addresses are part of the action. Last year, the keynote address came from Richard A. Ball, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets. The panel breakout session covered topics ranging from funding and distribution to manufacturing growth and sustainability with leaders from the public, private, and university sectors.

If you’re hungry for business growth or thirsting for new opportunities, Vitality in the Valley 2026 is an event you won’t want to miss.  Whether it’s as an exhibitor or an attendee, register now and join us in Herkimer, New York this June. As Frank Yerina of Garlic Delite Farms said of last year’s event, “I am glad I actually signed up and it turned out to be a good day.”

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Video has become one of the most powerful and expected tools in B2B marketing — including manufacturing. Platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube have transformed how buyers research suppliers, evaluate capabilities, and decide whom to trust. And now, artificial intelligence is reshaping how video gets made, edited, captioned, translated, and distributed.

For manufacturers — especially small and mid-sized companies operating with lean marketing budgets and leaner staff — the promise of AI video tools is genuinely compelling. Script in minutes. Edit automatically. Repurpose a blog post into a social clip before lunch. The efficiency gains are real, and the technology is advancing rapidly. The AI video analytics market alone is expected to grow from $32 billion in 2025 to more than $133 billion by 2030 — a pace that signals this is no passing trend.

But here’s what doesn’t get said often enough: having the tool is not the same as knowing how to use it. And knowing how to use it is not the same as knowing when to use it, why it matters, and how it fits into a larger marketing strategy.

We’ve Been Here Before

Those of us with gray hair (or at least some mileage in marketing) remember the arrival of desktop publishing software in the mid-1980s. When PageMaker hit the scene and anyone with a Mac and a LaserWriter could lay out a page, a wave of enthusiasm swept through businesses of all sizes. The logic was irresistible: we have the software, therefore we can design.

What followed was, to put it charitably, a creative free-for-all. Newsletters arrived drowning in fonts. Brochures packed every inch of space with text. The rules of visual hierarchy, whitespace, and typographic restraint — things trained designers understood instinctively — were cheerfully ignored. The tools were real. The results, often, were not.

As communications consultant Bob Glaser observed of that era: “The practice of good design wasn’t about the tools, but rather it was concepts, understanding, skills, and references to produce something that had a clear intent.”

AI video tools are having their desktop publishing moment. The technology is accessible, affordable, and impressive. The assumption that accessibility equals expertise is as flawed today as it was in 1986.

Why Video Matters So Much Right Now

Before weighing the trade-offs, it’s worth acknowledging the pressure. Video is no longer optional in B2B marketing. It is expected. Buyers research products, facilities, and capabilities online before they ever make a call. Wyzowl’s annual State of Video Marketing report — one of the most cited benchmarks in the industry — found that 93% of marketers report a positive ROI from video marketing, while 87% say video has directly increased sales. The demand for consistent video content — for LinkedIn, YouTube, company websites, distributor portals, trade shows, and internal training — has never been greater.

For manufacturers with a one- or two-person marketing department (or none), that creates a real problem. And AI video tools offer a real solution — in the right hands and for the right applications.

The Genuine Advantages of AI Video for Manufacturers

Lower Production Costs

Traditional video production — crew, studio, equipment rental, voiceover talent, editing time — has long been out of reach for many small and mid-sized manufacturers. AI tools change that equation. Platforms like Pictory, Synthesia, and Runway can transform written content into polished video in a fraction of the time. Xerox, for example, used AI-powered Synthesia to create global training videos and cut production costs by more than 50%. For budget-conscious teams, AI makes video viable for product explainers, safety training, recruiting content, and FAQs.

Faster Turnaround

AI tools can compress production timelines from weeks to hours — some teams are reporting 70–90% reductions in total production time. That speed matters when content calendars demand consistency, when a new product needs a launch video, or when a training update has to reach the floor by next week. Zoom, for one, used AI video creation to cut video generation time by 90%, allowing rapid content iteration.

Technical Translation and Localization

Manufacturing content is often complex. Describing a machining process, an engineered component, or a quality control protocol in plain language — and then translating it into Spanish for a distributor network — has traditionally required skilled writers, multiple narrators, and significant time. AI tools can simplify technical concepts, generate voiceovers in multiple languages, and auto-produce captions, expanding reach without a proportional increase in effort.

Scalable Personalization and Repurposing

AI enables manufacturers to create multiple versions of the same message — tailored by industry, buyer persona, or region — and to repurpose existing content efficiently. A blog post becomes a narrated explainer. A webinar becomes a series of short social clips. This “content multiplication” capability is especially valuable for manufacturers who have years of technical expertise locked in articles, white papers, and presentations that have never been converted to video.

The Real Risks Manufacturers Need to Understand

Authenticity Is a Strategic Asset — and AI Threatens It

This is the most critical issue, and it’s backed by data. According to Animoto’s State of Video 2026 report, 78% of consumers trust videos featuring real people more than AI-generated content. More striking: among viewers who believe they’ve watched AI-generated video, 36% say it lowers their trust in the brand behind it.

For manufacturers, this is not a minor aesthetic concern. Manufacturing is a relationship business. Trust is built over time, on specifications kept, problems solved, and people known. A faceless AI avatar reciting specifications does not convey the expertise of your applications engineer or the confidence of your quality manager standing on the plant floor. As Animoto’s CEO put it: “The data”s clear: consumers are curious about AI, but confident in humans.”

Technical Accuracy Cannot Be Automated

AI-generated scripts are trained on broad language models, not on your specific products, materials, tolerances, or processes. Without rigorous review by subject matter experts, AI scripts risk oversimplifying, misstating, or misrepresenting technical details. In manufacturing — where a misspecified alloy or an incorrect torque rating can have consequences — the cost of an inaccurate video is more than an embarrassment. Every AI-generated script for technical content requires expert review. That review takes time and expertise.

The “Cookie-Cutter” Problem

When every company in your space uses the same AI video platforms with the same stock avatars and the same templated visual styles, differentiation disappears. AI visuals may look professional but rarely reflect your actual facility, your team, or the things that genuinely set you apart. In a category where buyers are trying to distinguish between suppliers, generic content can work against you.

Brand, IP, and Compliance Risks

Manufacturers — especially those serving aerospace, medical device, defense, or other regulated industries — face additional layers of risk. Proprietary processes, product specifications, and client relationships involve sensitive data that should not be uploaded to third-party AI platforms without clear legal review. AI tools may also generate IP-entangled content in ways that are difficult to audit. As regulators and courts catch up to these technologies, companies in regulated sectors face genuine exposure.

The “Hidden Costs” of Easy

Subscription fees, time spent correcting AI output, and the ongoing need for human oversight add up faster than marketing teams expect. The efficiency promise of AI video is real — but only when workflows are thoughtfully designed and managed. As Connect Marketing, a B2B video production firm, put it: “many such tools provide such amateurish-quality output that your team is spending more time fixing the mess than they would have invested in creating the video from the ground up.”

Where AI Video Makes Sense — and Where It Doesn’t

Not all video is created equal, and not all video is equally suited to AI production. Here’s a practical framework for New York manufacturers:

AI video is a strong fit for:

• Product explainer videos and FAQs
• Internal training and onboarding content
• Social media clips repurposed from existing content
• Distributor education and catalog walkthroughs
• Content in multiple languages for global customers
• Quick updates and announcement-style communications

Traditional (human-led) video is still the better choice for:

• Facility tours and process demonstrations that showcase what makes you unique
• Customer testimonials and success stories (trust requires real faces)
• Executive messaging and company culture content
• Trade show highlight reels
• Highly technical demonstrations where accuracy is non-negotiable
• Any content where authenticity is the primary objective

The Smart Middle Ground: Hybrid Production

The most effective manufacturers will not choose between AI and traditional video — they’ll design workflows that use both intelligently. Think of it as AI handling the scaffolding while humans supply the substance.

A practical hybrid workflow might look like this:

1. Subject matter expert outlines key points and technical requirements
2. AI drafts a script from that outline
3. Marketing professional reviews and refines for accuracy, tone, and brand voice
4. Real team member or facility footage is recorded
5. AI handles editing, captioning, and format adaptation for different platforms

This approach captures the speed and efficiency advantages of AI while preserving the authenticity, technical credibility, and human connection that manufacturing buyers still require. The AI analytics firm LTX Studio summed up the emerging reality well: “AI video quality isn’t the moat anymore — creative direction is.”

Strategy First. Tools Second.

The manufacturers who will benefit most from AI video are not the ones who adopt every new tool enthusiastically — they’re the ones who start with clear marketing goals and then select the right tools to support them.

Before choosing any platform or launching any campaign, ask:

• What business outcome am I trying to drive? Lead generation, recruiting, distributor education, trade show awareness, workforce training — each calls for a different type of content and a different level of production.
• Who is the audience, and what do they need to trust us? A seasoned purchasing director evaluating a precision machining supplier has different expectations than a new hire watching a safety orientation.
• Does this content require technical accuracy review? If yes, budget the time and personnel for that review — AI won’t catch its own errors.
• What are we actually differentiating on? If it’s your people, your facility, your process — those things require real footage, not avatars.

AI can dramatically accelerate video marketing for manufacturers. But the companies that win won’t be the ones that simply have access to the tools. They’ll be the ones who bring the expertise, judgment, and strategy to use them well — and the wisdom to know when to set them aside.

The tool has changed. The craft hasn’t.

FuzeHub supports New York State manufacturers with marketing, strategy, and creative resources through our Manufacturing Solutions Program. If you’re evaluating how AI fits into your video and content strategy, we can help you think it through.

Need assistance with Marketing in your business? Join FuzeHub’s Methods of Marketing Course. Learn more here.

“Family-owned food manufacturer expands operations with state-of-the-art factory in Beacon, New York.”

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Business to receive $1 million in Federal funding to strengthen cross-border supply chains through program at University at Buffalo

“WNY businesses are set to receive a major boost thanks to $1 million in new federal funding aimed at improving cross-border supply chain operations.”

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Hear how leaders in the optics industry found workforce success through collaboration

“The Meetup event will feature a panel discussion focused on the rapid scaling of the region’s optics and photonics workforce.”

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Governor Hochul Announces $43M Boost For Central New York

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These highly advanced devices have transformed the detection of weak light signals. Operating at extremely low temperatures, they use superconductivity to achieve sought-after photon detection efficiencies used in quantum communication, astrophysics, and biological imaging, as well as emerging applications in quantum computing and secure data transfer.

But there’s still room for improvement.

To answer this challenge, the University of Rochester’s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Science has partnered with digital quantum computing company SEEQC to create, manufacture, and distribute a next-generation smart sensor, designed for use in cutting-edge quantum applications such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution.

Current SNSPDs face a tradeoff between three key performance factors: speed, detection efficiency, and background “noise” (known as dark counts). Integrating digital circuitry directly on the computing chip could help solve this problem by improving bias control, distinguishing between real and false signals, and even measuring photon numbers and energies more accurately.

This is where SEEQC’s industry expertise meets the University of Rochester’s academic research capabilities.

As a spin-out of parent company HYPRES—the world’s leading developer of superconductor electronics—SEEQC has extensive experience in combining classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems. And as one of the leading engineering schools in the U.S., the Hajim School is uniquely equipped to advance transformative innovations.

By developing technology built on superconducting materials—and integrating single-photon detectors directly on the same chip as advanced digital processing circuits—the collaboration’s smart sensor addresses key limitations in existing technology. It can detect single particles of light (photons) with exceptional precision, and in turn, help bring the first commercially scalable, problem-specific quantum computing applications to market.

With initial help from a $50,000 Fuzehub Manufacturing Grant in 2022, the partnership transitioned an existing SNSPD model into a new simulation platform (WRSpice), fabricated prototype chips, and performed testing and characterization.

While designed for cutting-edge quantum applications (such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution), the sensors can also support more traditional uses that require extremely sensitive low-light detection, including medical imaging, surveillance, and scientific research.

Since initial development, the project has achieved excellent results.

SEEQC successfully fabricated the new chips, which were then tested and characterized by HYPRES. The devices performed as expected during cryogenic (ultra-cold) testing, which is a necessary condition for superconducting technology. During the course of this work (completed in 2024), SEEQC and the University of Rochester also joined the National Science Foundation’s DISCoVER (Design and Integration of Superconducting Computation for Ventures beyond Exascale Realization) Expedition research program, expanding their work into new areas of quantum interface development.

Since this initial success, SEEQC—which also has facilities in facilities in London, UK, and Naples, Italy—has expanded its work into new areas of quantum interface development, launched collaborations with major corporations IBM and NVIDIA, and grown its operations into a new 12,000-square-foot facility in Elmsford, N.Y.

This project has also led to $1 million in additional investments, $300,000 in increased and retained sales for Seeqc, and ongoing job creation and retention.

Thanks to the many NYSTAR centers, hotspots and incubators for submitting their success story. Click here to submit your stories to share with the NYSTAR network — we want to hear from you!

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That unmet demand in 2012 sparked what would become Death Wish Coffee, a brand built on boldness, quality, and the belief that “life is too short to drink bad coffee.”  Since day one, Death Wish Coffee has been proud to caffeinate the masses near and far with the natural energy they need to tackle whatever life throws at them. Today, the company is headquartered in Saratoga Springs and operates a manufacturing facility in nearby Round Lake. Approximately 65 people work at the two upstate New York locations.

Promises Kept

As Master Roaster, Ferreira is responsible for ensuring that the brand keeps its promises. For the past ten years, he’s helped shape the flavor, consistency, and character of every roast that’s produced. He starts work each morning with a fresh cup of coffee and a deep dive into the previous day’s production. That includes tasting every lot of coffee produced.

“Ensuring maximum quality of products out the door, as our loyal customers have come to expect,” is how he describes it. Once all the packaging checks and data reviews are complete, Ferreira shifts to making sure that production teams have the high‑quality raw materials they need to keep operations running smoothly.

Part of what sets Death Wish Coffee apart is its use of robusta beans, an underappreciated species that delivers up to twice the natural caffeine of arabica. Some connoisseurs dismiss robusta for lacking the smoothness and acidity of arabica, but the right sourcing, roasting, and blending creates what Ferreira calls “a lot of depth and body” while delivering the bold flavor profile and natural energy that customers crave

The culture at Death Wish Coffee mirrors the intensity of its product. Ferreira describes the team as “scrappy go‑getters that love to get things done,” fueled by passion and plenty of clean caffeine. Being surrounded by like‑minded people who share that drive brings energy to each day and makes solving new challenges feel exciting rather than daunting.

Organic and Fair Trade Certified

One of those challenges is navigating a global supply chain that’s increasingly unpredictable. Climate swings, logistics disruptions, and geopolitical events can all impact coffee availability. Yet Ferreira credits strong leadership and deep relationships with importers and cooperatives for helping the company maintain quality without compromise.

The company’s commitment to Organic and Fair Trade sourcing fosters stability and long‑term resilience. Organic farming avoids synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which helps maintain soil health and long-term productivity. Fair Trade sourcing builds long-term partnerships between buyers and producers, promoting price stability and reducing volatility.

Every bean that’s used in the company’s everyday roasts meets U.S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA) standards for Organic and is Fair Trade Certified™. This commitment supports distant coffee farmers and their communities in countries that include India and Peru.  As Death Wish Coffee’s packaging puts it: “No decent land? No decent coffee. That’s no way to live.”

Before shipments of “green,” unroasted coffee leave their country of origin, the quality of the beans is carefully checked. There are several rounds of what Ferreira calls “sensory analysis” before the product reaches Death Wish Coffee’s warehouse. “If you do not have a quality raw product, you will never have a quality finished product,” Ferreira explains.

A Bold and Flavorful Future

Among his career accomplishments, Dave Ferreira takes the greatest pride in the roasts and flavors that he’s helped develop over the years. “Seeing the reactions of customers trying something you have created that becomes their new obsession will never cease to amaze me and bring fulfillment to my role,” he says.

As for the future of Death Wish Coffee, Ferreira’s outlook is unmistakably optimistic. “The future is bright!” he explains. With new ideas already in the pipeline, he’s excited to see how Death Wish Coffee continues to evolve while staying true to its bold, flavorful roots and mission to fuel customers’ thirst for life.

New initiative from FuzeHub aims to strengthen national defense through the advancement of New York’s microelectronics industry

ALBANY, N.Y. — FuzeHub, the statewide New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, today announced the winners of the New York State Microelectronics Innovation Challenge. Three projects with ties to Cazenovia, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, Rochester and Binghamton, will each receive $60,000 from the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. These grants will support groundbreaking advancements that enhance national defense through developments in the microelectronics industry.

FuzeHub received numerous applications for the funding initiative launched in December 2025. They challenged New York’s innovators to advance New York State’s manufacturing capabilities within the microelectronics industry, either through advancing innovative technologies, or strengthening the microelectronics supply chain within New York State.

The Innovation Challenge focuses on the following areas within microelectronics:

• Electronic components on the micrometer-scale or smaller
• Components and materials necessary for assembling printed circuit boards
• Materials, equipment, and processes necessary for the manufacturing and assembly of the above two categories

“Programs like the Microelectronics Innovation Challenge help bridge the gap between promising ideas and real-world impact,” said Ben Verschueren, Executive Director of Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). “By supporting early-stage research and helping innovators bring new technologies to market, we can advance critical industries like microelectronics while strengthening supply chains, creating high-quality jobs and expanding economic opportunity for New Yorkers.”

For the video announcement, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LZDWf_0YM0

The selected projects will develop a new way to inspect semiconductor materials, smarter testing for electronic components, and rethink how computer chips communicate internally. These projects show how innovation happens at every stage of the technology community. They are:

• The partnership between the Alliance for Manufacturing & Technology of the Southern Tier (AMT) and Pelco Component Technologies (Southern Tier/ Central NY) will help to integrate advanced in-circuit testing technologies to automate the testing and verification of circuit boards. The project is expected to increase throughput by more than 20X, while improving the accuracy of detecting defects in electronic components and improving their overall performance. This will enhance Pelco’s ability to deliver reliable electronic assemblies, and it translates to a more resilient supply chain serving the defense and industrial markets.

• Syracuse University CASE Center and Mosaic Microsystems (Central NY/ Finger Lakes) will demonstrate a breakthrough approach that builds wireless communication directly into glass-based chip systems, allowing chiplets (small modular chip building blocks) to share data more flexibly and reliably than wired connections alone. The work brings together experts in advanced computer hardware and wireless technology at Syracuse University with engineers at Mosaic Microsystems to help enable faster, more resilient electronics for applications like Artificial Intelligence, high-performance computing, and next-generation communication systems, all with substantially reduced manufacturing cost.

• The Research Foundation at SUNY Polytechnic, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department will collaborate with Xallent (Mohawk Valley/ Capital Region) to validate a new inspection technology. This project is focused on developing a non-contact, non-destructive inspection system that uses terahertz radiation, a safe form of electromagnetic energy between microwaves and infrared light, to examine semiconductor materials without the risk of causing damage to them. This will translate to a reduction in waste, and improved component reliability and performance, and should be especially impactful for components with fragile films and post-CMP surfaces where probe damage is especially costly.

“New York State is leading the growth in semiconductor manufacturing,” said Patty Rechberger, Innovation Fund Manager at FuzeHub. “FuzeHub is proud to support collaboration between academic institutions, regional manufacturing extension partnership centers, and manufacturers in order to accelerate innovation and buttress the microelectronics industry.”

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund — which serves as the source of funding for this Innovation Challenge — supports a set of activities designed to spur technology development and commercialization across New York State. Launched in December 2016, the fund is named for Jeff Lawrence, a champion of the New York manufacturing and entrepreneurial communities. Each year, the Innovation Fund provides more than $1 million in direct assistance to the manufacturing, research and development, technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the fund has awarded over $11 million in funding to support collaborative projects throughout the state. This Innovation Challenge is made possible through funding and support from Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) as part of the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program (DMCSP).

About Jeff Lawrence

During his more than 20 years at the Center for Economic Growth, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) affiliate in the Capital Region where he served as executive vice president and MEP Center Director, Jeff Lawrence directed programs of direct assistance to manufacturers and technology companies to increase their competitiveness. He is remembered for being an invaluable and generous mentor to many in the area’s business community and a tireless advocate for manufacturing innovation throughout New York.

About FuzeHub

FuzeHub is a not-for-profit organization that connects New York’s small to medium-sized manufacturing companies to the resources, programs, and expertise they need for technology commercialization, innovation, and business growth. Through a custom assessment, matching, and referral platform, FuzeHub helps companies navigate New York’s robust network of industry experts at Manufacturing Extension Partners centers, universities, economic development organizations, and other providers. FuzeHub is the statewide New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (MEP) center, supported by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation.  For more information on FuzeHub, visit www.fuzehub.com.

About Empire State Development

Empire State Development is New York’s chief economic development agency, and promotes business growth, job creation, and greater economic opportunity throughout the state. With offices in each of the state’s 10 regions, ESD oversees the Regional Economic Development Councils, supports broadband equity through the ConnectALL office, and is growing the workforce of tomorrow through the Office of Strategic Workforce Development. The agency engages with emerging and next generation industries like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing looking to grow in New York State, operates a network of assistance centers to help small businesses grow and succeed, and promotes the state’s world class tourism destinations through I LOVE NY. For more information, please visit esd.ny.gov, and connect with ESD on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

About U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

The Department of Defense is America’s largest government agency. With the military tracing its roots back to pre-Revolutionary times, the department has grown and evolved with the nation. Their mission is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure the nation’s security. https://www.defense.gov/

Meyda Lighting is a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer based in Yorkville, specializing in decorative and custom lighting solutions. The company operates multiple divisions, including Meyda Custom Lighting and 2nd Ave. Lighting, which produces high-end, custom-designed fixtures. With a manufacturing facility and showroom near Utica, Meyda Lighting employs approximately 50 people and serves a wide range of residential and commercial markets.

The Challenge

Meyda Lighting relies on e-commerce platforms to support its online sales and customer engagement. As the company continued to grow its expansive product catalog, it recognized the need to improve its digital presence to remain competitive. Specifically, Meyda sought to enhance its website design, functionality, and search engine optimization (SEO) to increase visibility, drive more web traffic, and convert visitors into customers.

Chester Cohen, Management Executive at Meyda Lighting, connected with FuzeHub—part of the New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP) and the MEP National Network™—to address these challenges and unlock new growth opportunities.

MEP’s Role

FuzeHub partnered with Meyda Lighting to identify and resolve technical issues that were negatively impacting the company’s SEO performance. Working closely with Meyda’s internal team and web developers, FuzeHub led a comprehensive website redesign focused on improving both user experience and backend functionality.

This overhaul enabled the seamless integration of thousands of new products into the website, significantly expanding Meyda’s digital catalog. In addition, FuzeHub provided strategic SEO guidance, helping the company improve content quality, metadata, internal linking, and overall site architecture—key components for increasing search engine rankings and discoverability.

To further strengthen Meyda’s digital marketing efforts, FuzeHub also supported the implementation of email automation tools, allowing for more effective outbound marketing and customer engagement.

“Meyda has been manufacturing and designing award-winning Tiffany, Rustic and Custom lighting for 50 years. We engaged FuzeHub, which expertly guided a major website design and functionality overhaul that included thousands of products and helped us achieve a 65% traffic growth from our old website. We increased our content quality, metadata, internal links, and information architecture. Utilizing FuzeHub’s capabilities, our website has become more user-friendly, quicker, and easier to navigate, expediting our ROI and substantially raising our SEO rankings, site traffic and lead generation.”
— Chester Cohen, Management Executive

Results

The impact of this collaboration was significant and measurable:

• Increased Sales: $750,000
• New Investment: $485,000
• Cost Savings: $30,000
• Jobs Created: 3
• Jobs Retained: 5

Through its partnership with FuzeHub, Meyda Lighting successfully transformed its digital presence—enhancing user experience, boosting online visibility, and driving meaningful business growth.

Originally published on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website with the help of New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)

The evolution of glass to ensure reliability 

The semiconductor packaging industry has benefited from glass since the mid-1940’s.  For decades precise volumes of molten glass have been reflowed in cylindrical metal cavities with metal center conductors being supported as the glass was allowed to cool below its softening point.  Glass-to-metal seals form coaxial and multi-pin feedthroughs that are still used today in high reliability applications as individual connectors or integrated into packages.  The feedthrough allows signals to pass into and out of hermetic packages that protect sensitive semiconductors from harsh environments.  

Using various material compositions of glass, preforms, made from pressed powder or molten extrusion, are bonded chemically and/or mechanically to specialized alloys providing a robust hermetic solution for a range of applications with rigorous quality standards.  Alloys and glass were engineered for mutual compatibility, with the glass specifically formulated to suit the required RF or DC signal type.  Glass has fostered confidence in the durability of microelectronic systems, spanning applications from deep-sea to aerospace environments.  

The purpose of this background is to highlight undervalued technical gains achieved for functional reliability, while showcasing the sustained, decades-long reliance on glass in challenging operational settings.  The development of these high-strength seals also extended product longevity.  New materials, processes and equipment were developed to meet more demanding and complex applications.  Design, manufacturing and inspection standards evolved to measure hermeticity and assure quality and endurance.  

Glass applications in the semiconductor industry are vast, ranging from E-glass fabric in organic laminates to flat-panel displays (FPDs) and specialized micro-optics.  It is used as a temporary carrier for handling delicate silicon wafers and as a substrate for photolithography.  However, these applications generally perform a single, specific function.  

The pursuit of reliable functional density

While organic laminate substrates remain a low-cost method to interconnect premium semiconductor chips, designers shouldn’t be looking at glass substrates through the same economical interconnect lens.  Glass substrates can provide an important high-value role that allows more “built-in” functionality and energy efficiency than organic substrate materials.  While superior thermomechanical properties have made glass the ‘hot topic’ for next-gen multi-chip modules, its overall market endurance hinges on prioritizing a comprehensive ecosystem to unlock its full, high-utility potential.  

Heterogeneous Integration (HI), the combining of more than one semiconductor material fabricated of different process nodes and from different foundries into a single module enables tightly integrated high-performance microsystems.  The premise behind HI is to use “the best junction for the function”.  Chips of varied pedigree must efficiently communicate with each other through a medium that bonds interconnects reliably.  

To improve device reliability, reducing the material count in heterogeneously integrated (HI) multi-chip modules must be a goal of designers.  Glass offers a unique unparalleled solution for HI.  The Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) of glass can be tailored to match the die material.  Reliable bonds between diverse chips and their respective substrates can be formed.  The practice of bonding graded, or cascaded, glass, a series of glass intermediate steps where each step has a slightly different, intermediate CTE dates back before the 1940’s.  

With advanced manufacturing, glass can extend the function of the chip.  Transferring some of the chip fabrication complexity to the glass substrate improves chip yield.  Devices that manage signal and power integrity can be efficiently implemented in the substrate.  As the function of the chip and package begins to blur, and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools evolve, one material stands out as the appropriate convener allowing chips of different lineage to efficiently communicate: glass.

The industry’s pursuit of maximum functional density has culminated in 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI), a feat of engineering so complex it represents the quintessential DARPA-hard objective.  

The challenges of functionally dense 3DHI

The top three challenges of 3DHI in semiconductor packaging:

1. Managing thermal dissipation due to high-density stacking, 
2. Ensuring high-yield, high-precision assembly (wafer/die-to-wafer bonding),
3. Maintaining electrical or optical performance (signal/power integrity).  

Glass offers solutions in following ways:

1. Thermally conductive vias, thermal isolation cavities and coolant passages.
2. Ultra flat and smooth surfaces, hybrid bonding to oxide-based RDL and through glass visual alignment.
3. Ultra low loss material, thin film, deep trench and through glass integrated passive devices, voltage regulation, integrated RF antennas, filters and waveguides.

Furthermore, the use of glass substrates facilitates key components such as hermetic MEMS, high-frequency RF switches, optical interconnects, and Thin-Film Transistors (TFTs), as well as providing built-in security and long-term memory capabilities.  For heterogeneous integration of logic, memory, sensors, analog, and optoelectronics, designers have a full range of glass-based interconnection capabilities to suit various operating environments.  

Introducing the Enhanced Functionality Glass Substrate (EFGS™)

A new class of substrate is presented to the packaging community.  Enhanced Functionality Glass Substrates (EFGS).  Glass substrates with oxide-based redistribution layers (RDLs) to enable submicron and high aspect ratio electrical traces as well as optical and RF waveguides.  EFGSs will support hybrid and hermetic bonding while monolithically integrating devices previously mentioned with advanced thermal management and traceability solutions.  This monolithic integration at the wafer or panel level shifts the burdens of managing the procurement, storage, security, assembly, inspection and lifecycle of separable components to advanced manufacturing and fabrication processes.  The EFGS reduces off shore supply chain dependencies and insecurities but it significantly challenges the design community and the automation of optical and electrical inspections.  

The cost and complexity to implement the EFGS is unquestionably higher than the organic laminate substrate or even the silicon interposer but tradeoffs are part of any design cycle.  The intense focus on the AI hype cycle obscures the long-term strategic importance of glass substrates as a versatile platform technology with applications far beyond AI.  

At FuzeHub, we believe the broad trajectory of Enhanced Functionality Glass Substrates is a long-term platform solution for AI, 6G telecommunications, quantum computing and advanced resonators.  FuzeHub is spearheading Glass4Chips (G4C), a U.S.-based consortium initiative, aimed at bridging the gap between the superior technical capabilities of glass and our urgent geopolitical economic priorities. 

Join the Glass4Chips Initiative

This vision of G4C is to unite manufacturers, researchers, startups, and public partners around advancing glass-based microelectronics and packaging in the United States. Glass4Chips is focused on building collaboration, shared infrastructure, and a clear pathway from innovation to production.

If you’re interested in shaping the future of advanced packaging, photonics, and semiconductor manufacturing, for glass-based microelectronics we invite you to join the effort and learn more at https://upstatemakes.org/glass4chips/. 

You can also engage directly with leaders across the ecosystem at the Glass4Chips Summit, taking place May 14–15, 2026 in Albany, NY. The summit will convene industry, academia, and government partners to explore how glass substrates are enabling next-generation technologies and to accelerate collaboration across the supply chain. Learn more and register here: https://fuzehub.com/glass4chips-summit/