A few years ago our founder, Kevin, saw a "Thug Life" t-shirt and jokingly said we were living the "Plug Life". It stuck. Since then we've made t-shirts, stickers, mugs, and postcards all with our Plug Life graphic on it. We encourage our team members to wear their Plug Life t-shirts to work and on work outings. We say "Plug Life!" when high-fiving or fist bumping. It has become a part of our company culture. 

We don't just say we're excited about empowering American manufacturing. We actually mean it. Our philosophy is that there is more to work than just earning a paycheck. Everyone wants to feel that their work matters and that they are contributing to something bigger than just making a faceless corporation rich. We live and breathe Plug Life here at Bridgeview. In everything that we do, we make sure that we are rooting for our customers and lifting them up them with our hard work. It fires us up when we can support veterans who are trying to break into a very competitive market. It motivates us when we know we are helping a husband and wife realize their dream of working in renewable energy. We feel proud when we can help a tiny tech start-up land a multi-million dollar contract. 

What motivates you?

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We have reminders scattered throughout our shop, helping us remember why we do what we do.

One of the exciting parts of owning a small business is when new machinery arrives. We were really fortunate enough to find a great overmolding machine and we are so excited by the possibilities of using it to help our customers.

While the great majority of companies that offer overmolding require a minimum order quantity of 500 or 1000, we are determined to continue to offer our services with a minimum order quantity of just 1. That means if our customer has a mold and needs just one plug, we'll take care of that for them. We're in the business to empower American manufacturing and that means working outside of the standard box. 

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Ben (left) is testing out our new machine, learning how to program it. 

As small business owners, we have the temptation to look around on social media and compare ourselves to what other small businesses are doing. What we have to remember is that, especially on social media, we're looking at the highlight reel for that business and not the struggles they go through. Every business, no matter how successful they appear to an outsider, has problems and failures.

"Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else." - Judy Garland

At Bridgeview, we embrace who we are. We're a little quirky, a little nerdy, and a lot of fun. We're driven, hard workers who have a passion for seeing American manufacturing succeed. We have a strong sense of who we are and have no desire to be like any other contract manufacturer. What makes us unique is how personable we are, how willing to help we are, and how attentive we are to the needs of our customers. We live the "Plug Life" and we're proud of it.

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​Richard (left) proudly wears his Plug Life t-shirt to work. Seth (right) shows off his quirky cat calendar.