(machine humming) - So we're gonna put film down on the water.

The machine will dispense automatically.

(machine humming) (machine continues humming) (machine whirring) - We do things that matter, right?

When someone goes into battle or into a training exercise using our equipment, it has to work.

(bright music) - Gentex is a fourth generation family-owned business.

We started in the silk rowing business.

We were the largest in the area, around 1914.

Fast forward to World War II and our team of engineers worked on high payload parachutes, and we became the largest provider in the country.

(bright music) And from that point on, we became the go-to engineering company for the military.

- Gentex protects everything from the neck up, Army, Marines, Navy, personnel on the ground.

And then we like to say, "If the US government flies it, Gentex has a flight helmet aboard the aircraft."

(bright music) (machine humming) - This is where the magic happens.

So I've been with Gentex Corporation for 25 years.

For the past 15 years, I've been a coding technician.

So we apply specialty coatings to visors that protect our military and emergency service personnel.

This, we call window one.

It's, the Anti-Fog is applied to the concave side of the visor, so when the end user's wearing the product and they're breathing, it doesn't fog up on them.

So I actually apply the coating by hand.

- Artificial intelligence and electronics are certainly becoming more commonplace in everything that we do, but we also have a major element of human touch that goes into the products that we make.

(exciting music) - I make sure it's nice and tight.

And it's just like sewing.

You just kind of go up and down.

(exciting music) And they get sewed all the way around, and then I stop, cut it, because this piece goes on separately, on this side.

All hand-sewn.

- All of the different components that go into making that helmet go through so many different hands and so many talented people.

(sprayer fizzing) (exciting music) (water dripping) (exciting music) (sewing machine thudding) - And because it's a northeast PA company, even though we do bring in multiple employees from all over the world, a lot of the people know each other.

They see each other at the grocery store, they see each other in church.

So there really is that family atmosphere at Gentex.

(workers exclaiming) - What sets Gentex apart is continuing to have that intimate relationship with the end user.

We employ a lot of veterans and former end users.

- I was in the Navy from 1991 till 1997.

- My father was a Marine for 25 years.

I'm sure he was wearing the helmets that Gentex provided.

- I think everybody comes into work every day knowing that they're contributing to a cause to protect the lives of those who are protecting us.

Even though we're an international company, it ties us all together.

- We're saving lives.

We're keeping people safe.

It definitely makes me proud to work here for this company.

(bright music) (no audio)