Industrial Strength: An Iron Will In Fitchburg
Minuteman International makes products for hearth and home
All of the company's vast array of forged iron are designed and warehoused at its Fitchburg corporate headquarters. But the company has 200 employees in two facilities in Poland that do all the painstaking, hand-forged work. It's been that way since the mid-1990s, when the company realized it could no longer hand forge wrought iron products in the United States and keep those products affordable for the retailers that buy them.
Wrought With Creativity
Still, the sheer volume of products offered by Minuteman is impressive. More impressive is the fact that most of them are designed by one woman, Achla Bahl Madan, an architect by training and owner of Minuteman and Achla Designs.
The company designs almost every product it sells and also does a good deal of contract manufacturing making iron faces for living room wood stoves.
âWe started in a very small way,â Madan explained. âThe whole tradition of wrought iron had almost died here and in Europe.â But at the same time, Americans were beginning to show more and more interest in gardening and antiques. âWe came out at the same time as the interest in gardening and outdoor living,â Madan said.
Wrought iron products were, and still are, very popular among gardeners. Iron trellises, arbors, brackets, furniture and planters won't rust or rot. Iron can be shaped in any number of different ways without losing its strength.
Madan said being an architect helps her keep the Minuteman and Achla designs fresh. She also uses personal observation, reading, travel and, of course, gardening for inspiration.
âThat way, we can pick up trends way ahead. Whatever's in the stores, I don't want that,â she said. âWe try to look two years ahead of time, it's an intuition you develop.â
Some things that have inspired Madan in recent years include the multi-colored glass bangles women wear on their wrists in Madan's native India. As the glass bracelets were being replaced by cheaper plastic, the company that makes them began making drinking glasses. Madan hired the company to begin making ornate Victorian gazing globes.
Though Minuteman no longer manufactures in Fitchburg, it tries to inspire the blacksmith within local folks when it sponsors the yearly Forge-In.
A Dying Breed
There is at least one company in the Montachusett Industrial Park that does still do some manufacturing. Well, milling.
Van Millwork has its custom division just off Stevens Road in the park. It shares a nondescript, relatively small building with a couple of other offices. It doesn't appear to be the kind of place where high-end woodworking is being done. But once inside, you can hear the high-pitched whir of saws, planers and routers. When I showed up there, some of the company's equipment was being repaired and the entire building smelled like some kind of industrial solvent.
Apparently, it's not just an office building. There's a small warehouse out back where Van's custom fabricators work. The team of about 25 does all the Bellingham-based company's custom work from cabinetry to doors to full kitchens, paneling and wall units.
It's unfortunate, but I'm sure homes that feature Van Millwork custom cabinetry are sometimes demolished. When they are, all the rubble and waste could be carted to Recycle America, which has a four-year-old facility in the park.
The company can recycle just about any type of construction debris, but specializes in roof shingles, which the company tests for asbestos and recycles for use in pavement and other applications.
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