Lost In Translation In Spencer | Where babies and knives do mix
I could call this column the Spencer tags, stickers, decals and labels column if it weren't for the fact that industrial cutting blades will be involved.
It's easy to take a company like FLEXcon Corp. for granted. It's one of the biggest manufacturers in Central Massachusetts, it employs some 800 people at its massive, sprawling complex in the FLEXcon Industrial Park just off Route 9 in Spencer and it's been around long enough for three generations to work there.
Language Barrier
And like a lot of family-owned manufacturers, FLEXcon doesn't exactly get effusive when it comes to describing what the company actually does. Technically speaking, FLEXcon manufactures pressure-sensitive films and adhesives. It's too bad that doesn't sound as interesting as it really is. Even company officials say one of FLEXcon's challenges is getting the general public to understand how often it actually comes in contact with FLEXcon products.
So, here it is: The Clark University sticker on your car's rear window? FLEXcon. The durable labels that adorn jet skis, ATVs and bicycles? FLEXcon. The safety/hazard labels under the hood of your car and on your power tools? FLEXcon.
And the company makes much more than labels for consumer products. The window graphics at restaurants, floor graphics in grocery stores, and eye-catching graphics that adorn the sides of buses as well as the hang tags on the merchandise at your favorite department store are all made by FLEXcon.
The list goes on and on: medical records labeling, industrial labeling, the labels on your deodorant, shampoo and lotions, the eye-catching new labels being used in the food and beverage industry, as well as pharmaceutical labels. It can all be made right in Spencer.
Appropriately enough, the company says it is able to produce such a wide range of products by remaining flexible to the demands of its customers. The company also says it allows a great deal of flexibility to its employees, who are encouraged to speak up when they've got ideas for how to make the company or its products better.
Now, that's interesting enough. But right next door to FLEXcon, which makes a vast array of labels, none of which say "FLEXcon," is Taggies Inc., which makes satiny little tags - a lot like the ones you find on clothing - that aren't informational tags at all and say "Taggies" all over them.
Taggies was started by two mothers, Julie Dix and Danielle Ayotte, when they realized that their infants were more interested in the smooth, satiny tags on their blankets and toys than they were in the blankets and toys themselves.
Dix sewed a bunch of tags around the border of a blanket, and an international sensation was born. These days, Taggies sells a full line of blankets, books, educational toys and plush toys with tags all over them, as well as a line of clothing.
Taggies is in a small industrial park next to FLEXcon. It shares the park, which is still mostly vacant land, with Dienes Corp. Dienes has been in its 40,000-square-foot facility since 1977. employs about 50 people in Spencer and manufactures industrial knives.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments