46 privately owned manufacturers across 10 major states — owner age is publicly known for only 4, and 3 show retirement-age evidence

Asked:

“manufacturers in california that are over 25 employees and 4 years old.”

Asked (follow-up):

“nice now do 10 other major manufacturingstates + cap emp count at 500 and check if owner is near retirement age + get owners full names.”

This prospecting shortlist covers 46 candidate privately owned manufacturers in ten major manufacturing states — Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New York, and Georgia — each with a source-reported employee count within 26–500 and a founding year of 2021 or earlier (founding years span 1860–2020). It is a candidate list, not a complete census of qualifying manufacturers. Nine states rank 2nd–10th after California in a 2023 Census County Business Patterns-based manufacturing-jobs ranking; Georgia was added as the tenth major manufacturing state without an assigned rank.

Verify before outreach: current ownership, operating status, headcount, and any retirement signal all need direct confirmation. “Near retirement age” is marked Yes only on direct public evidence (stated age ≥60, birth year, or explicit retirement signal); “Unknown” is the responsible answer for 42 of the 46 rows. Names labeled only “founder” may not be current owners; historical or stale ownership claims are flagged in the table.

Where the 46 candidates sit

Blue depth = number of candidates in the state (1–6). Grey states are outside the ten-state search coverage. Hover or tap a covered state for its companies and 2023 manufacturing-jobs rank.

Candidates by employee band (max reported)

Owner retirement-age status

What the map cannot say

Only three owners show direct retirement-age evidence: Wade Keats, 69, co-owner of Keats Manufacturing in Illinois (yahoo.com) and Eddie Smith, 79, owner and CEO of Grady-White Boats in North Carolina (businessnc.com); the third, Coleman Manufacturing Company, is a historical record — its founder was born in 1849 (grokipedia.com).

The only owner publicly confirmed under 60 is Brandon Greba, 43, founder and owner of West Georgia Cornhole (ussanews.com); every other row is Unknown because no reliable public age was found.

Coverage follows the 2023 manufacturing-jobs ranking: Texas leads the nine ranked states with 869,062 manufacturing jobs, New York closes the top ten at 411,439 (manufacturingleadgeneration.com).

The largest candidate by reported headcount is Shinola in Detroit at roughly 500 employees, owned by founder Tom Kartsotis through Bedrock Manufacturing (trulyusamade.com); the smallest, West Georgia Cornhole, reports 30.

All 46 candidates

State	Company · city	Employees	Founded	Products	Owner	Age	Near retirement	Source

Method: 46 candidate privately owned manufacturers compiled from public web sources, one row per normalized company, across ten major manufacturing states; employee counts are source-reported, may be total-company rather than plant-level, and sit within 26–500; founding year 2021 or earlier. State coverage: nine states ranked 2–10 after California by 2023 Census County Business Patterns manufacturing employment, plus Georgia (unranked). “Near retirement” is Yes only on direct public evidence of age ≥60 or retirement; ages are never inferred from appearance, name, company age, or generation. Ownership roles labeled founder-only or historical are flagged. City missing for one row. Not a complete census; confirm ownership, status, and headcount before outreach.

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