By Elaine Rassel
There is quite a story of “how” K-Products, now Staples, came to Marcus. The 1996 Marcus book has the story, but as not all people have this book, I’m going to tell the story as it was printed then. (Credit for the following is to whoever gave the information for the Marcus Blue Book.)
The Marcus Economic Development Corporation (MEDICO) was instrumental in locating a branch plant in Marcus. When Msgr. A. Behrens, MEDCO president was assigned to Marcus, he realized that there was a local need for new business to add to the agricultural economic base. He heard that K-Products at Orange City wanted to expand, and needed a location close to the firm’s headquarters. He was acquainted with the Kohout family, owners of K-Products, Inc. which helped the situation.
He approached the management of K-Products and assured them of an adequate work force and town interest. After a tour of several possible sites, they chose the Christensen acreage at the northwest corner of the junction of Highway 3 and 143. (Now if you knew the Christensen’s, getting them to sell this lovely looking property wouldn’t be an easy task.) Msgr was the one who had to talk to Vivian and Ethel to see if they would consider selling their property. The prospect was dubious, for the “girls”, in their 60’s and 70’s. They lived a rather reclusive life without conveniences. However, they loved their flowers and were quite active in the Marcus Garden Club. (They sold their flower bulbs all over the country!) To get his “foot” in the “door”, Msgr asked to see their iris, etc. He viewed the lovely flowers in small beds separated by four-foot-high weeds. He received an added bonus when greeted by 26 cats! In making his presentation, he suggested alternative places as to where the girls might live. Marcus was prepared to settle them in any housing of their choice in the community. Surprisingly, they agreed to sell, and stated they’d like to live near Eugene, Oregon. After some negotiating over the price of the land, the deal was completed and K-Products owned the 14 acres.
As soon as the Oregonians headed west, the demolition crew moved onto the property and the cats took to the hills! Short work was made of clearing necessary space for the new factory, but to K-Products credit, careful landscaping had been pre-planned. Many of the existing trees and flowers were incorporated into the lovely grounds and lent immediate beauty and an air of solid establishment to the business.
Construction of the 32,000 square foot plant began in November of 1979. Countless hours of labor produced a successful application to the department of housing and urban development for monies to install utility lines to the plant. In the agreement with K-Products , the city annexed the industry’s land as well as a sizable parcel surrounding it. This was necessary because HUD required that the land be within city limits. In May of 1980, work was completed on the water and sewer project, paid for with the $265,740 federal grant. Industrial revenue bonds in the amount of $1.5 million were sold.
Product production began January 12, 1981, with 54 people employed, working eight hours per day, making 32,000 emblems per day. Quentin Hatfield was the plant’s first manager. In the beginning, emblems for promotional caps were made primarily for agri-business companies. Service has since expanded to include athletic concerns, entertainment corporations such as NBC and CBS, the transportation sector such as Ford and Chevrolet, beverage companies such as Coke and Pepsi, major industries that include tools and tobacco products, and golf courses like Pebble Beach.
In 1988, a 15,000 square foot addition was completed on the west end of the original building. Four main departments are within the plant. The Punch Department converts the artist’s sketch to be embroidered by either a loom or multihead machine.
The Loom Department, which started out in 1981 sewing direct embroidery for emblems with five German-made machines, has expanded to 15 machines.
The Multihead Department operates 24 Japanese-made machines, doing direct embroidery on pre-cut cap and jacket panels. A 1995 addition to this department is two TSS (Toyota Sewing Systems) clusters that take the front cap panel that has been embroidered on a multihead machine, and sew it into a finished cap.
With the 1995 employment of 286 people, John Schneider is currently the Plant Manager, and Quentin Hatfield is now President and C.E.O of the company. A strong emphasis in on “teamwork” and the importance of every employee working together to make a quality product, and enjoying their work. The five-day work week consists of working three shifts, around the clock; there is a product output of 45,000 to 50,000 embroidered pieces per day. These are either separate emblems, cap panels, jacket panels, or completed caps.
Story will continue next week with Mass Exdus at K-Products