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| Handcrafted: Hattie Brown the grandmother of toy plant owner Michael Rainville, makes wooden blocks. She's one of three generations
of family members to help out at Maple Landmark. Nicole Hill |
A Vermont toymaker sees business boom after China scare
The family-run manufacturing plant has expanded its workforce by two thirds – and the order backlog is still triple that of last year.
from the December 24, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Then, two months later, came the second big recall – some 19 million toys this time. Rainville was in a meeting when the news was announced. "I got out and there were calls from the New York Times, MSNBC, the Houston Chronicle, and FOX," he says.
Like many other US toymakers, the sanders and routers inside Maple Landmark began whirring even more incessantly. The workforce was increased by two-thirds, to 44 employees. (In addition to his grandmother, other longtimers include his mother, wife, sister, and – as frequently as the school schedule permits – his two sons, 14 and 12.)
Maple Landmark's 2007 fourth-quarter sales this year are up 60 percent from 2006. The current backlog of orders is triple that of last year, and by the Wednesday after Thanksgiving the company had to start telling customers it could not guarantee deliveries by Christmas.
Rainville welcomes the business, of course, but the boon has brought challenges, too. "We weren't really structured for this," he says. "We believe in dealing with all our customers on a personal level and that's been hard to do. Some people think it's great that we're busy, but from others it's, 'Why don't you have your act together?' "
A further strain is that much of the new help is unfamiliar with how the company operates, and worse, doesn't always show up for work. Then there's the capricious New England weather that complicates deliveries and the usual pressures of the holiday season on consumers and vendors alike. Jayne Cousino, who attended first grade with Rainville (his mother was their teacher) and who has worked at Maple Landmark on and off for 20 years doing "a little of everything" on the production floor, describes the situation as "very overwhelming."
"We just got slammed," she says. "Normally we get busy, but this year it was really early. It's been good, but everybody's tired."
In his frayed plaid shirt and dusty pants, Rainville himself looks a bit worn. Yet, as he settles into the swivel chair in his office, he gives off an air of contentment. His younger son, Andrew, sits nearby at a small desk sandwiched into the corner. The boy is playing at tidying his space, but what he's really doing is listening to his father.
Rainville extols the virtues of frugality and hard work. "I live in the manufacturing sector," he says. "The things they [the workers] have to do would kill other people."
What does he like about the business? "Well, it's my..." Rainville hesitates, then stops.
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