Two local businessmen committed to preserving small manufacturing operations wrote a sweet economic story with the purchase of the W.G. Fry Corp. by Chartpak. That creative synergy preserves jobs in the region increasingly reliant on entrepreneurial spirit as major manufacturing companies have largely shut down.
The marriage means that Chartpak, which manufactures and distributes art, hobby, crafts and office supplies, will expand its operation in Northampton, where it has plants in Leeds and Florence. Twenty full-time employees at W.G. Fry, which has manufactured paper products for more than six decades, will relocate from West Springfield to Leeds by the end of November.
“It’s two success stories,” says Saul Kuhr, the former owner of W.G. Fry who now is a consultant for Chartpak. He will continue overseeing the paper manufacturing and focus on marketing and developing new products.
Kuhr and Steven Roth, the owner of Chartpak, have been acquaintances for years. It wasn’t until 2016 that the two companies began a working relationship, when Chartpak contracted with W.G. Fry to manufacture its specially designed notebooks. Some use paper that works best with Chartpak products, including Koh-I-Noor pencils and Grumbacher paints. Others have a unique feature that Roth describes as “dome-lock technology” that allows pages to be removed and then placed back in their wire bindings.
Those products were popular at the International Art Materials Association convention in Salt Lake City during March. That’s also when serious discussions began about the acquisition, which was finalized Sept. 25. Financial terms of the deal were not made public.
It ends 27 years of ownership by Kuhr, 63, of Northampton, who has been creative in adapting to changes in technology. He bought the business, then in Holyoke, after becoming dissatisfied with his career in finance. W.G. Fry moved to West Springfield in 2001 at a time when many other small paper manufacturers were going out of business.
Kuhr found a stable niche for his company by producing the fine papers that artists want. He also designed semi-automatic production lines that are adaptable to the size of the job.
“Saul’s manufacturing capabilities are very unique and very nimble,” says Roth.
Kuhr regarded his business as family and developed a culture at W.G. Fry that kept employees there for years. Before the sale, the company had 30 full-time workers, and two-thirds will make the move to Leeds. Among Kuhr’s policies was allowing unlimited overtime, which benefited his employees and eliminated the need for a second shift. Roth plans to continue that policy.
Among those staying on is W.G. Fry’s longest-serving employee, Adrian Roberts, 68, of Belchertown, who has worked there since 1969. He hopes to keep operating an auto punch at least until he turns 70. His favorite memory of working for the company?
“I guess my raises,” Roberts says.
All W.G. Fry employees were offered jobs at Chartpak with a guarantee of at least their same pay rate. They join about 100 people who already were working at the Chartpak plants.
While W.G. Fry will discontinue its binder service for commercial printing companies, it still will make products for existing customers as a private label manufacturer. Among those are the reporters notebooks used by the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Roth says the combined team will allow Chartpak to expand its paper products, which until now primarily have been its Clearprint brand of art and engineering paper. “It empowers us to come out with any product that we want to come out with in paper,” Roth says, adding that he also expects a boost in creativity. “Magic happens. We can constantly play a lot.”
Roth and Kuhr believe that small manufacturers are part of a strong regional and national economy. “My first preference is to manufacture in the United States,” Roth says. “We want to save the U.S. manufacturing base.”
We hope they are rewarded with many magical years for the Chartpak-W.G. Fry combination.