Fasson > The First Fifty Years

Transcription

1 Fasson > The First Fifty Years

2 FASSON S EARLY ADVERTISEMENT.

3 The birth of innovation Pressure-sensitive technology was still so new when Fasson began that most of the workforce started with no experience in the field. Early Fasson assignments included several large-scale orders for industry, involving such challenges as keeping the presses running for weeks on end, mixing large batches of adhesives consistently and coating on vinyl. These learning experiences took the fledgling new division far afield from the Company s simple labelmaking operations, just as Stan Avery had hoped it would. As orders piled in, coating presses got bigger and the staff more confident and experimental. Thus, the tradition for innovation was born. A FASSON CULTURE OF TEAMWORK, EFFICIENCY AND PROBLEM SOLVING DEVELOPED OVER THE YEARS. The Company then had no regular scheduling procedures. We d take an order slip into the plant and set it on the bench. Then the guys would look at it and figure out how much we needed of each ingredient. It was like cooking up one pot of stew at a time. CAL MILLER FASSON EMPLOYEE, 1955 FASSON S FIRST ADHESIVE-MAKING EQUIPMENT. The people at Painesville were simply the most wonderful group that I ve ever had the privilege of working with... They had fun making something happen. BILL ZIMMERMAN FASSON GENERAL MANAGER, 1959 CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: CHUCK MILLER MAPS OUT STRATEGY FOR EUROPE; THE FIRST LEIDEN STAFF; EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS; AND FASSON SALES MEETING.

4 I went out to see Fasson in Painesville in my second week with Avery. I began to smell the opportunities for growth in the materials side of the business. In the label business, you d really fight for a $200 order. On the materials side, with one sales call you could sell a broad range of products to the same customer. And you could sell to all the different label makers. CHUCK MILLER, RETIRED CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, UPON JOINING THE COMPANY IN Meeting market needs Geographic expansion became an important factor in Fasson s early market leadership, beginning with branch plants across the United States. Production facilities in Europe followed, first to provide base materials for European licensees, and then to include all label converters. Before long, Fasson materials were a catalyst for expanding the pressure-sensitive markets in Canada, Mexico, South America, South Africa and Australia. More recently, the Fasson brand has been introduced into the emerging markets of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Building a customer base Very early, Fasson decided to broaden its customer base rather than rely solely on its few large industrial accounts. There was a general consensus within the division that pressure-sensitive labels could be used by just about anyone. But when the marketing program began, Fasson salespeople found they had to spend more time explaining the basic idea of using pressure-sensitive materials than actually selling the material. Sheet printers found this newfangled material a bother. It stuck together. It was hard to run. And it was expensive. Taking another approach, salespeople started going directly to the user, which turned out to be an easier sale. Before long, printers were inundated with requests for pressure-sensitive labels. PLANT MANAGER BILL DODGE (TOP) AND EARLY PAINESVILLE OPERATIONS. For 25 years, people have been telling us we ve saturated the [pressure-sensitive] market that we ought to diversify or start making other kinds of labels. At any point along the way, we could have agreed. But we haven t, and we won t. FOUNDER STAN AVERY, 1968

5 Expanding technology In the days when no one knew anything about pressuresensitives and had no experience manufacturing these new materials, experts were made on the manufacturing floor through trial and error. As such, Fasson has always provided a welcoming home to tinkerers, chemists, engineers and scientists. Even more amazing, many of these recruits went on to manage operations bringing with them a profound respect for the technology behind the materials that made applications into successful products. Because of this technological bent, the Fasson organization also explored more effective release coatings, non-solvent recovery systems and environment-friendly adhesives continually expanding the organization s capabilities and technical leadership. INNOVATIONS IN COATING, PROCESS ENGINEERING AND QUALITY CONTROL WERE APPLIED THROUGHOUT FASSON'S FACILITIES. Strengthening the organization The early Fasson organization was blessed with visionary and resourceful leaders. Bill Dodge, Fasson s first plant manager Mr. Fasson around Painesville, Ohio was well respected throughout the expanding Fasson organization. The division s management style grew to reflect Bill s combination of curiosity about how things worked, dedication to making things work better, commitment to conducting business the right way and his quiet way of motivating others to find solutions for even the most unbeatable challenges. With the business quickly growing into a worldwide organization, and under the Company s decentralized management philosophy, the expanding ranks of Fasson managers, not only duplicated these basic principles, they enriched it with new ideas, varied cultural perspectives and added strengths and capabilities that now permeate the Company s worldwide pressure-sensitive adhesive businesses. We used to say that our business was just a state of mind. It wasn t an ordinary business, like making shoes. People have had shoes for thousands of years. In our business, we created products and sold them where there was no product before. So it was always new and interesting. BILL DODGE MR. FASSON, FIRST PLANT MANAGER AND GENERAL MANAGER FROM 1964 TO 1976 FASSON REPUTATION FOR LEADING-EDGE PRESSURE-SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGIES APPEALED TO ANALYSTS AND DREW TALENTED RESEARCH CHEMISTS TO THE GROWING ORGANIZATION.

6 The next 50 years In 50 years, Fasson has grown from one operation to approximately 30 manufacturing facilities, 65 distribution centers and 40 sales offices in 32 countries around the world. From its first year sales of $70,000, the materials side of the business has grown to become the largest part of Avery Dennison. For 50 years, the men and women behind the Fasson brand have worked together to create a strong tradition of innovation, excellence and listening to the customer, enabling Fasson to lead the way in expanding the capabilities of pressure-sensitive technology a tradition that will undoubtedly continue for the next 50 years. Ensuring quality and service With a long history of overcoming tough manufacturing challenges, it s no wonder that Fasson embraced and adapted every new method that came along to ensure consistency and enable the fast, reliable delivery of top-quality products anywhere in the world. From statistical process control to all of the methods in the organization s current Six Sigma processes, the focus on excellence continues. The men and women in our Fasson organization have built a truly global franchise on a 50-year tradition of quality, service and innovation. PHIL NEAL CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER THE EXCITEMENT OF WORKING FOR A RAPIDLY GROWING ORGANIZATION IS VERY MUCH ALIVE AMONG FASSON EMPLOYEES AROUND THE WORLD.

7 Fifty years ago, Avery Dennison - then known as the Avery Adhesive Label Corporation - began operating a base materials plant in Painesville, Ohio. The fledgling Avery Paper operation was soon renamed Fasson - to suggest fasten on or fast on. That event marked a strategic new direction for the Company: to sell, not fully-made labels, but pressure-sensitive base materials directly to printers, converters and label manufacturers. With the founding of Fasson, a new capability, and a powerful new brand, was created - one that would greatly impact, strengthen and expand not only the Company, but the entire pressure-sensitive industry.

8 Avery Dennison Roll Materials Europe Lammenschansweg 140 P.O.Box AA Leiden The Netherlands Tel Fax Central Europe Avery Dennison Materials GmbH Z.Hd Marketing Services Bembergstrasse Wuppertal Germany Tel Fax Northern Europe Avery Dennison Materials UK Ltd. Nelson Way, Nelson Park East Cramlington Northumberland, NE23 1JR England Tel Fax Eastern Europe & International South Avery Dennison Praha, spol. s r.o. Mezi Uvozy 2431/ Praha 9 Czech Republic Tel Fax Southern Europe Avery Dennison Materials France S.a.r.l. Zone Industrielle Champ-sur-Drac France Tel Fax Fasson and all other Fasson brands or service programs are trademarks of Avery Dennison Corporation. EU 06/2004.