The Whitewater Story
Whitewater is the name given to the turbulent waters of the swollen rivers in the springtime. The river fills up with an accumulation of water from the fast melting ice and snow of winter and because of the tremendous backlog of water the river rises to sometimes uncontrollable heights and the turbulence that is created can be destructive to nature and mankind. To some people whitewater represents beauty, a challenge, a state of nature that is waiting to be conquered. That person is the whitewater canoeist. To him the challenge is accepted and his goal is to employ his every skill to master the turmoil and derive from this force of nature the true beauty that was intended.
Purely by coincidence, the story of Whitewater Mold and Tool is quite similar. Servco, Inc., a company once located in Lawrence, MA and engaged primarily in the manufacture of plastic components for use in the shoe industry, was caught up in the spring of 1973 with a backlog of tooling that was causing a turbulence that threatened to destroy the company. Servco had its own mold and tool shop consisting of three people and their efforts were supported by several outside suppliers of tooling. The internal efforts were proving to be uncontrollable because of a lack of qualified help and the inability to hire qualified help at any price due to the scarcity of experienced tool makers. Scheduled completion dates could not be met and as a result the tooling was not available for the production department and it wasn't long before the customers were unhappy because of missed delivery dates. Servco turned to it's outside suppliers, who were hard pressed to meet delivery schedules on work already contracted for. They could not react fast enough, and in some instances were not equipped to produce the specific tooling that was required. Servco started to receive cancellations, customers were not happy. The effort to recruit experienced people was redoubled; no success. The supervisor of the tooling department resigned. Servco was in trouble.
Unknown to Servco, two adventuresome whitewater canoeists (who were also highly experienced mold and tool makers) were accepting the challenge of nature in their canoes, and preparing for the biggest challenge of their life, they wanted to go into business for themselves. Servco heard of the plans of Roger Damon and Bob Wells and, needless to say, were extremely interested. Roger and Bob wanted to set up a business in the Northampton area for several reasons; they wanted to build a business in their own community, they knew the labor market of the area and were convinced that the best toolmakers in the East were in this area, they loved the outdoors and the beauty of Western Massachusetts and were not about to give it up. They had some capital to contribute, they had unobtainable experience and talent, but they lacked enough capital to acquire the quantity and quality of equipment to do the type of work they knew they were capable of doing. Servco had equipment, not all that Roger and Bob wanted, but a good base to work from. Servco had a backlog of work that would enable Roger and Bob to get rolling. Servco with its turbulence presented a challenge to Roger and Bob. They felt with their skills they could tame an uncontrollable situation. Servco talked, Roger and Bob talked, and pretty soon machinery was being moved, lawyers were drawing up legal documents, a corporation was being formed, a dream was coming true for two adventurers and Whitewater Mold and Tool Co., Inc. began. During June, Roger and Bob set up shop in leased premises at 22 Chestnut Street, Florence, Massachusetts. The company was in operation by late June and the accounting began July 1, 1973.
Whitewater is a corporation separate and apart from Servco, who has since ceased operation, in the nature of its business, its goal and objectives, and in its management. Roger Damon is the president and controls the operation. The treasurer is Edward Croteau and he is responsible for the accounting and record keeping and administrative functions. Bob Wells is supervising production and is responsible for engineering. In order to handle more customers, Whitewater needs more people and equipment. Whitewater wants to grow and have the ability to broaden their customer base. The demand for the skills that Whitewater requires is far in excess of the supply. The success of Whitewater will be its ability to grow and capture some of this excess demand. As a part of Whitewater's growth, a sound financial structure is necessary. In this respect, Whitewater wants to establish a working relationship with it's trade creditors and with the local banking community.
To summarize the above; a new factor in the growth of Florence, Massachusetts has been introduced, a corporation has been formed that is capable of supplying job opportunities to the area and though its business transactions with local suppliers will help to aid the overall progress of the economy of this area. The principals of Whitewater hope that when people hear the name Whitewater they will react with excitement and confidence and not with fear and apprehension.