Falcon Rule, a division of American Falcon Corporation, is a world class manufacturer of quality wooden promotional products that are sold throughout the world.
Until early last year, the company operated out of a 115 year-old factory on the banks of the Little Androscoggin River in Auburn, Maine. Walking into the four-storey, red-brick wooden structure was like taking the Wellsian time machine back into the bowels of the American industrial revolution. Jack pine post and beams – hard as a rock and further petrified by decades of grime and industrial use – framed the manufacturing floor filled with vintage hand-fed letter presses, some dating to late 1800s design.
Last spring, however, Falcon Rule moved into the 21st century. In May, the company completed construction of a modern, 52,000ft², US$3.5m manufacturing plant in the rapidly expanding Kitty Hawk industrial park on the outskirts of Lewiston-Auburn. Instead of a bleak industrial landscape, a two-storey, contemporary, metal-clad building with rotunda and landscaped grounds greet workers at Falcon’s new plant. The recent move to a high-tech, suburban setting reinforces the company’s new direction: ‘natural promotion for a new millennium’.
Scott Nussinow, current president of Falcon Rule and the main creative force behind the operation, has the acronym ‘MAS after his name on his wooden business card. ‘It stands for Master Advertising Specialist,’ he said while pointing out the newly installed news communication devices used to transfer artwork onto the wooden medium. In the ultra specialised field of promotional wood products, he explained, the science of advertising is every bit as important as the science of timber processing.
It’s also crucial in Falcon’s niche to be seen to be a stalwart champion of the environment. Using cutting-edge technology, it is able to capture an extremely high product yield, resulting in a minimum of waste. It has also switched to using soybean oil-based ink and has recently installed a recovery system that will capture more wood from the waste stream by reusing misprinted materials destined for the scrap heap. The company uses photo-polymer plates for imprinting with magnesium dies, which cause less pollution.
Falcon is additionally pioneering the use of photo-curable inks and coatings, which, it claims, provide a virtually ‘non-polluting printing and finishing process’.
Air-conditioned factory space, a centralised dust and air evacuation system and gas-fired humidifiers for the winter months contribute to efficient workspace and pleasant working conditions at the new facility. ‘The transition from the old space is like night and day and we have just installed a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and will be investing in UV finishing systems within the next several months,’ said operations manager Ron Haskell.
Falcon also uses the very latest in printing and imaging systems for highly accurate and detailed reproduction of corporate messages and logos on its products. In fact it has a total of three computer servers: a Linux for data communications and web access, a Macintosh for graphics and images, and an NT for operating databases and the ERP system. The new facility also features a state-of-the-art image setter in which all elements are processed digitally eliminating the labour-intensive stripping and paste operations.
Falcon’s raw material is almost exclusively basswood, Tilia americana (lime as its known in the UK) primarily from Wisconsin and the midwest.
Basswood is a common component of the northern hardwood forests of New England and the Lake States. However, some of the most extensive stands of basswood – often growing in association with sugar maple – occur in northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Originally, maple was the preferred species for Falcon rulers and yardsticks but, due to cost and availability, that preference has now shifted to basswood. In addition to a reasonable price point and good supplies, basswood’s characteristics -medium density and even, straight grain – make it the obvious selection for promo-tional products.
Falcon consumes between 350-500mbf of wood each year. Traditionally raw material has been brought in as unfinished lumber, dimension stock and slats. Slats are subsequently cut to length, shaped, edged, imprinted, coated and shipped to resellers. ‘We are currently evaluating whether to invest in newer, technologically advanced woodworking machinery or rely on slats,’ notes Scott Nussinow. He continues: ‘It’s not just a question of cost, but availability of materials which would give us better quality control of the product.’
The line of wooden products is extensive , ranging from cedar fresheners, shoe tree hangers, cedar boxes and CD crates, through boxes, trays tops, toys, puzzles and games, to honey dippers, crab mallets, spoons and spatulas, pens, miniature baseball bats and hockey sticks, fraternity paddles, paint paddles, boot jacks, wooden nickels, wooden postcards, yo-yo’s, game boards, whistles, keytags, magnets, pointers and, of course, wooden business cards.
‘If you need something special, Falcon also offers custom manufacturing capabilities,’ states Mr Nussinow. One of the most unusual requests, he recalls, was a 10-piece, folded metrestick with Arabic letters developed for the Saudi school system.
‘We continually work to introduce new wooden products that effectively demonstrate value and longevity in use and promotional application,’ said Mr Nussinow.
Items are customised with a company logo and used in a variety of promotional activities. They are used as inexpensive hands-on advertising by businesses, utilities, schools, hospitals and financial institutions around the world. Stock slogans, catchy phrases and word play express multiple themes, comments, and suggestions that are used as team building tools or creativity stimulators.
Not only does Falcon have to sell its products but it also has to promote the idea of a promotional product with a marketing theme. ‘Promotional products are aids to facilitate a desired action, sale or decision. Rather than an endless stream of cheap plastic products, ours represent the quality, beauty and high-perceived value of an abundant natural resource,’ notes Mr Nussinow.
Product story lines
Each product has a line and a story. Handyman ruler is particularly successful in both the lumber and hardware industries. Giving common nail, softwood lumber and wood screw sizes, these rulers are a practical promotional item for hardware stores.
These implements also give cabinetmakers, furniture stores, construction companies, lumber dealers and manufacturers of wooden products scope for tie-in slogans such as: ‘Quality is our Rule’ or ‘Our Service is Immeasurable’.
Falcon actually started out in rulers – short measures, bevelled rulers, flat and theme rulers, newspaper rulers, yardsticks and metresticks and folding yardsticks – and these are still their mainstay, making up to 50% of the business. Falcon is one of a small handful of manufacturers of metresticks in North America and wooden rulers and metresticks are their two highest selling items.
What does the future hold? According to Gordon Platt, director of human resources: ‘The number of employees in the new plant has increased by six workers we’ll be adding at least as many next year and hopefully increasing the work force to 45.’
Expanding markets, incorporating new techniques of imprinting and new materials are also in the company’s plans of the new millennium. But, regardless, the company’s main rule will be to stick with wood as its premiere promotional medium.
