John R. Lyman Company shows loyalty to city
Date: 7/20/2011
July 20, 2011By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
CHICOPEE — The move to a new facility in the industrial park area near Westover Air Reserve Base not only has saved 90 jobs in the city, but also has allowed the John R. Lyman Company to grow.
On July 15, city and business leaders gathered at the new facility on Westover Road to celebrate the official opening of the business with a ribbon cutting.
Company President William Wright, the third generation of his family to head the company, said, “We’re a very old company — we’re a very old Chicopee company — and our commitment is to Chicopee.”
“We’re staying here,” he added.
The company was founded in 1906 in Springfield and moved to it long-time location in the Cabotville Industrial Park in 1937. Originally manufacturing wiping cloths for various industries, the company now also makes specialized wipes for a wide variety of high tech applications, according to its Web site.
Wright told
Reminder Publications the company has added six additional jobs since it moved to the new facility in March. It still has 18 employees working at the site in Cabotville. The industrial rag wipe manufacturing still accounts for 15 percent of the company’s business, he said.
The move cost the company more than $3 million and allowed them to consolidate operations that have been spread over several facilities, Wright explained.
Wright said the wipe industry has changed and the move allows the company flexibility to grow.
“We wanted to be able to react to all that stuff,” he said.
Wright discovered the new location when he attended a Chamber of Commerce event conducted at the air reserve base.
Wright thanked city and state officials for their help in making the move possible.
He had considered re-locating, but quickly learned that even a move to a facility in Feeding Hills would have meant the loss of employees.
“It would be impossible to start from scratch,” he noted.
Mayor Michael Bissonnette noted there is other job expansion in Chicopee with U.S. Tsubaki adding 25,000 square feet to its facility, AM Lithography Corporation adding 15,000 square feet. Bimbo Bakeries USA has added 70 jobs, he noted.
