American Felt & Filter feels like a family
NEW
WINDSOR New York USA: A local manufacturer employs basic values in business.
By Tara Thomas
The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, NY, 27 August 2000
By all accounts, American Felt & Filter Co. is a family. The company has
evolved since it was founded as the American Felt Co. in 1899. But the family
atmosphere hasn't changed. "The relationships we have with each other are close
ones. There wouldn't be anything we wouldn't do for each other," said Bernadette
Dominguez, sales representative for felt products.
Bill Pryne joined American Felt & Filter as an hourly worker in 1967 and
worked his way up to president by 1996. He bought the company in 1998. "I don't
ask anything of a person that I can't do myself, because I did it all my life.
That's who I am," Pryne said.
Pryne has had to face some disappointments since taking control of the
company. "We struggled to stay alive," he said. That struggle included
downsizing and a drop in sales. Today, American Felt & Filter operates out
of facilities in Newburgh and New Windsor with 70 employees. When Pryne joined
the company, it had five additional plants in New England, with a company-wide
total of about 2,000 employees.
American Felt and DuPont used to be major employers in the Newburgh area.
Frank Kochesky, technical director of research and development, is a
third-generation American Felt employee. "I feel like family, because my father
worked here for a while and both my grandfathers," Kochesky said. His relatives
eventually took jobs at DuPont, because the walk to work was shorter. He joined
American Felt & Filter in 1964. Many of Kochesky's co-workers have been with
the company for 20 years or more. Ask employees how long they've been there,
and many will refer to their service-anniversary plaques on the wall. When they
talk about their jobs, the word "family" comes up time and again.
Personal connections to the company help to keep it staffed at a time when
manufacturing workers are in high demand in Orange County. The employees are so
close-knit, they don't often leave. When there is an opening, Pryne often hires
friends and relatives of the employees he has. "These people here make this
company," he said.
And they make a diverse product line. American Felt started out manufacturing
woolen felts for hats, pool tables, piano strikers and engine gaskets. Now, the
company engineers various fibers for a wide range of products – from fibers that
can be dropped onto a burning candle without melting or catching fire to
materials used in missiles. American Felt & Filter developed the first
silicon-free computer chip in the late 1970s, Pryne said. The company also
manufactures cleaning strips for automatic car washes, the tips for markers and
felt-tipped pens, chalkboard erasers, seals and wicks, facial cleansing pads,
padding for braces, and orthopedic supports. Liquid and air-filtration products
are another big aspect of the business. The materials have changed, too.
Pryne estimates that 70 percent of the company's products were made from wool
and 30 percent from synthetic materials 25 years ago. Now, it's the exact
opposite, he said. The 50-year-old Pryne is the fifth owner of American Felt
& Filter. His sons have been with the company since the mid-1990s. Scott
Pryne is vice president and director of manufacturing. Mark Pryne is secretary
and director of sales. "I don't want to be a Fortune 500 company," Bill Pryne
said. "I want to be able to come to work and have fun at what I do."
Effective 2001. (C) 2001 All rights reserved.
