Company at 50 sees best days ahead

BRISTOL, CT — Even in tough economic times, a birthday party is important.

When it’s a 50th birthday for a local manufacturer that’s holding its own in a recession, the celebration is that much sweeter. Plymouth Spring President Richard Rubenstein congratulated employees Monday with a big cake and told them they share the company’s success.

“The reason we’ve done so well is because of our employees,” Rubenstein told an assembled group of workers. “You guys are terrific. You don’t know how many companies don’t make it 50 years.”

Mayor Art Ward and Jonathan Rosenthal, the city’s economic development director, turned out to help celebrate and wish the company and its workers well.

Ward said the company’s success in the downturn “is a tribute to the ownership, to the management, to the employees.”

The mayor said the community will weather the recession because of the dedication and commitment of people like those who work at Plymouth Spring.

When better times come, Ward said, “You’ll be here and you’ll rise above it.”

Jim DuBois of Bristol, is a 25-year veteran of Plymouth Spring. He’s a foreman who oversees the computerized wireforming at the company and said he definitely can see the impact of the recession. The company is still doing well, he said, but business isn’t as good as it was a year ago.

DuBois said Rubenstein takes good care of the building, which he said means a comfortable, clean and safe place to work that’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

“It is a nice environment to work in,” said DuBois, “and good people, too.”

Employee Grace Thomas, who is 84, agreed. She said she’s spent all of her 22 years at the company working in the grinding department.

“I love it. Everybody’s so nice,” said Thomas. “I’m going to work here as long as they’ll have me.”

Rubenstein said the company didn’t begin to feel the impact of the recession until December. He said it was the first time in 19 years that the company has had a slowdown, he said.

“We’re down a little bit,” he said. “We will come back.”

Rubenstein said the company has seen about a 30 percent drop in sales because of the recession. Work is just not as plentiful now as it has been in the past.

“It’s not being stolen by other companies,” said Rubenstein. “It just isn’t there.”

The company has laid off a half-dozen people — the first layoffs in the history of the company, he said. Other workers are furloughed one day a week under a state program that allows them to collect unemployment benefits on the days they’re not working, he said. Still, the company is in decent shape, according to Rubenstein, and faring better than some others.

“Fortunately, we have no debt. We are very strong financially,” he said. “We have great customers who are taking a breather.”

Plymouth Spring has a customer base of 1,500 that is diverse geographically and by industry, which helps, he said.

But this recession is impacting everyone, Rubenstein said.

“Everybody’s scared,” he said. “There’s no place to hide.”

Rubenstein said he doesn’t know if the economy has hit bottom yet or not. He said he doesn’t see things improving, but said they’re not getting any worse, either. He hopes he can manage without any more layoffs, he said.

“We have the means to recover,” said Rubenstein. “We’ll be here for the long haul. We’re not going anywhere.” Rubenstein said the company began with four employees on April 6, 1959 in Terryville, and moved to Bristol about a decade later. He said the owner retired in 1982 and sold to a group of investors.

He was sent in to close the business in 1988, Rubenstein said, but instead of just seeing it as a place that was losing money, he found the factory made a terrific product but was poorly managed.

Rubenstein said he made some changes, adding “Six months later, we were very profitable.”

Since then, the company has acquired eight other spring companies, most of them local, Rubenstein said.

“They’re all integrated,” said Rubenstein. “They’re all here.”

Sales have climbed from $1 million annually in the mid-1980s to about $13 million today, said Rubenstein. He said there were 35 workers when he took over in 1988 and today the number is up to 51, almost all full time.

“We have very low turnover,” said Rubenstein. The company treats employees like family, he said, and the employees are loyal.

Plymouth Spring has great employees and wonderful customers, he said, and will be around for 50 more years.

But don’t look for DuBois to stick around that long.

“I’m going to own my own island by then,” he said.