Be brave

American Photonics, a Manatee County-based manufacturer that specializes in an array of niche glass products, has gotten behind the patriotic side of its name.

In doing that the company will battle its biggest nemesis — a firm that outsources most of its manufacturing overseas, to places like Singapore, Vietnam and China. That publicly traded firm, Pennsylvania-based II-VI Inc., has $535 million in annual sales and 6,300 worldwide employees.

American Photonics, however, a 30-employee firm run by local entrepreneur Barry Tyler, is determined to maintain the Made in America aspect of its business model. American Photonics makes precision carbon dioxide laser optics. That's specially polished glass, essentially, used everywhere from powerful scientific microscopes to windows and mirrors in the aerospace and medical manufacturing industries.