Today is a special day for Confer Plastics -- the company turns 40 years old!
Thank you for
all of your efforts in helping the company to reach this rare milestone ---
after making it past the first 4 years (only 44% of all business do), the
average lifespan of a family-owned business is 24 years and the average
lifespan of America’s biggest and most successful companies (those in the
Fortune 500) is 40 years.
We have many years behind us and many more ahead of
us. We’ve beat the trend thanks to a team effort from all facets of the
company, as well as ongoing support from our customers and vendors.
We
will be celebrating our 4 decades of business in style this year with a special
open house on Thursday, April 4th from 11:00 AM till 8:00 PM. This
will give our families and friends, our customers and vendors, and the
community at large a chance to see all of the cool things we do and make. We
had a 30 year open house and it was a hit. This one will be, too. More details
will be issued in the coming weeks.
Here
is brief history of Confer Plastics:
Ray
Confer was born in 1922 in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. His family moved when he
was young, finding their new home in the Niagara region of Upstate New York.
Ray served in the Second World War and upon his return took a job with Norton
Laboratories in Lockport, NY, where he dabbled in plastics chemistry and
product design during what were the formative years of the plastics industry.
In the 1950’s, the
hard-working man achieved one of his life’s dreams, buying a farm in Gasport,
NY.
Ray tended the farm on the
nights and weekends (with help of his wife, Gladys, and children Sharon and
Doug) while working at Norton Labs during the day. It was this farm that
allowed him to save enough money to achieve an even bigger dream that he had --
the American Dream of owning and operating a business.
Ray dreamed of having his
own plastics factory where he could develop new plastics applications and turn
his ideas into products, while helping others to do the same, bringing to
fruition their own American Dream. So, in the late-1960’s Ray put down his
savings – and leveraged his home and farm – towards the purchase of plastics
molding equipment. Renting space behind a small machine shop in North
Tonawanda, he and his business partner, Pete Schurman, created a small company
called Air Mold where they further developed blow molding technologies. A few
years later, Ray and a couple of associates operated another firm, Air Lock
Plastics in Tonawanda.
During the 1960’s, Ray’s
ingenious mind spawned many inventions now taken for granted in the plastics
industry, such as the living hinge (used on millions of tool cases the world
over) and portable mold temperature regulators . He also assisted in
development of the elaborate parison-draping process.
In the early 1970’s Ray
decided to go out on his own. He and his son Doug, fresh out of college,
founded Confer Plastics, Inc. on January 22nd, 1973. From 1973 to 1986 the
company could be found in the Roblin Steel complex in North Tonawanda where we
manufactured a wide variety of proprietary and custom goods from swimming pool
ladders to fuel funnels to terrariums to piggy banks.
In 1986 we moved down the
road to our current location at the corner of the Witmer and River Roads in North
Tonawanda. Since then, we’ve expanded that manufacturing complex on three
occasions, adding space for more - and larger - machinery, assembly operations
and warehousing. In 2005 we purchased a second facility just minutes away in
Niagara Falls. That building is used primarily for warehousing and
distribution.
Ray Confer passed away in
1999, but the company has grown at a consistent and successful pace under the
watchful eye of Doug Confer. A company that was built by family lives by
family, and that is the culture at Confer Plastics, one instilled into all of
our people by Doug. Everyone is treated like a part of family, be they
coworkers, suppliers, or customers. Our hands-on ownership and hands-on
management show that we believe in respecting others and having others respect
us. You can see that vividly in the number of employees who have worked at
Confer Plastics for twenty years or more (26 employees and growing!) or the
number of customers who have been with us for decades.
Confer Plastics is a perfect
representation of the American Dream. It’s a successful business that was
founded by a man who, with his son, had the aspirations to bring an idea to
life and the work ethic and intelligence to make it work. It’s a dream that he
shared with his son and one that he shared with his.
Become a part of the Confer
Plastics family….we can help make your idea, your American Dream, become a
reality.
