Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Pink.
Greg, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I saw a need for replacement plastics for fluorescent light fixtures as I traveled around to schools, hospitals and office buildings selling electrical supplies. The maintenance crews would ask if I knew where they could get plastic covers to replace broken, missing and yellowed lenses for their light fixtures. At the time, there was no one in New England that could supply these. I decided to start Fluorolite Plastics. We started small, just doing simple shapes and flat sheets. Then word got around and before I knew it we had 15 people working to keep up with the demand. We only shipped to the Electrical Distributors in New England and slowly expanded to the rest of the country as fax machines and the internet came into play, making it much easier to identify the different plastic shapes.
The lighting fixture manufacturers continue to change fixture styles and designs discontinuing older fixtures and not offering any replacement plastics. This is great for Fluorolite as we continue to make molds for these discontinued items. Our customers know that we stand behind everything we make 100% so they have no fears in ordering a custom made part from us.
Fluorolite has an extensive inventory of flat sheets, egg crate and parabolic louvers, wrap arounds, globes, tube guards, circulines, drop dishes and thousands of molds that allow us to drape form or vacuum form almost any kind of diffuser. Fluorolite has grown over the last 40 years to become the largest most experienced replacement lens company in the country, we even supply our competition parts that they don’t know how or don’t have the ability to make themselves. Our employees have a combined 250 years’ experience in making replacement plastics. Fluorolite is very customer service oriented which is one of the reasons why our customers have been with us all of the last 40 years.
Another reason for Fluorolite’s success is our employees. I could never have gotten the company to where it is today without the dedication and hard work and love of my wife Diane and employees Ed, Dana, Chrissy, Joe, Lou, and Mike. They’re not really employees they’re all more like family.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting Fluorolite has not always been easy. It involved working all day on the road getting samples, quoting parts, getting orders and working 4 nights a week, spending all weekend manufacturing parts. As time went on I had to add employees. That was another issue, finding the right people who had the same attitude towards customer service and producing a quality part as I did. After a while I did find all the right employees and they have been here from 15-40 years.
There are no books to read on how to custom make replacement plastics. Everything we do was learned through trial and error. Making molds was critical, finding equipment and adapting it to our needs for trimming parts was a challenge, Designing jigs for routering certain parts and deciding what products to stock and order. Every aspect of this job has had its own obstacles to overcome, I like to say everyday is another adventure.
Many of the production processes we’ve developed are proprietary and developed by the employees.
As the lighting industry has changed over the years from T12 lamps to T8 lamps and now to LED’s Fluorolite has also needed to change. We’ve developed new materials to be used with LED’s that improve the light output and obscure the LED diodes making for a more pleasing and headache free work space.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As for myself, I’m involved in all aspects of the company from administrative duties to coordinating production schedules, ordering product from suppliers, etc. My duties have been made easier as we’ve delegated more of these duties to other personnel, but I still get involved when questions arise or someone is on vacation. I don’t specialize in any one area, but I do oversee everything.
As a business owner I think I’m most proud of the fact that Fluorolite has been in business for 40 years. The average length of time a startup company is in business is only 5 years.
Fluorolite is in a niche business without many competitors, however it’s had to overcome some very difficult problems inherent with a custom manufacturing operation. I believe the issues we had to overcome may have discouraged many other individuals from starting a company that would be a direct competitor of ours.
Overcoming these hurdles was only possible by the hard work and dedication of the employees. The fact that they stayed with me for all these years tells me we’re doing something right and that makes me very proud and gives me a great sense of satisfaction.
What sets us apart from others is our employees, no two ways about it. Without everyone working hard, with the same vision of where we want to go and what we want to achieve none of this would have been possible. No 100% guarantee or anything else would have mattered had the employees not cared about what they do on a day to day basis. Nothing I could say or do would have mattered had they not also wanted to achieve the same goals.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was always active in sports, I was on the track teams indoor and outdoor and cross country in High School I had my own small landscaping company in high school. I was the second oldest of five kids so there was always something going on around the house. I had an interest in many different things. In looking back now, they all seemed a little entrepreneurial. I worked part time at an auto dealer when going to school and I think that’s when I decided I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to be the one to make the decisions and deal with the consequences. I enjoy working around the yard, traveling, reading, visiting with the grand kids.
Contact Info:
- Address: Fluorolite Plastics Inc.
2 Central St.,
Framingham, MA 01701 - Website: www.fluorolite.com
- Phone: 1-800-858-1201
- Email: customerservice@fluorolite.com
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