Nypro chairman

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Nypro is Clinton’s biggest employer by far, with 900 But when Gordon Lankton arrived therse as CEOand co-owne in 1962, there were only 20 employees. Everyone pitched in and Lankton often found himselcf on thefactory floor, working alongside his employees. He said earlh on, he thought to himself, “I like thesr people. They should share in the wealtjh ofthe company.” At a time when the excessexs of officials at companies like AIG test the public’s Lankton stands as a stari reminder that good corporate citizens — thosse who value their employees and their communities above their own pursuit of wealth or fame — do But before he could becomw a benefactor, Lankton had to build his company’s wealth.
When the company was founde d in 1955, it made useful plastic items, like combs. Today, the company makews more complexcombination devices, such as a computerizecd insulin pen for diabetics it produces in collaborationb with one of its . Nypro has three different divisions consumer electronics, packaging and health care. The healthy care division, headquartered in Clinton, molds and assemblee about 3 million asthma inhalerszeach year. It also producesw 33 million insulin injection devices and about 80 million check valvesw to be used to controp blood flow inIV sets. Lankton’s straight posturr and deft movements belie his77 years.
The only hint that age has foundc him isthe tiny, clear tube snakingb out his ear, indicating a hearing aid. There is a big box on his desk that is full of cell phone covers and other discardedf plastic remnants ofcommon products. Lankton is particularly prou of oneitem — a clear plasti mold with 12 divets in it. It is the symbo l of one of Nypro’s early successes, a long term deal with to produc the molds for its Vistaconcontact lenses. “Thag deal kept the factory going for three shiftsa day, all for 15 years,” Lanktomn said. But the company also facedr someserious challenges.
In 1980, Lankton said, “We were only the CFO didn’t tell me we were While that may be a slight it is true there were some weeks when the companhy struggled tomake payroll. Nyproi was overextended. The company had borrowed heavily to buildeplants overseas, starting in Taiwan in 1973. Interest ratews went through the roof, landing at 20 In addition, a company that prided itself on providingh customized service now had a client base that had ballooned to 400 Lankton came up with a plan calleddthe $1 million club: identify potential customerws who would buy $1 million dollars of goodz per year. Nypro would focus only on industryt leaders, the big fish.
The firm shrunk its customedr list to 40 and returnedto profitability. And that craz idea to build plants in placeas like Indiaand China? “We beat our competitors theres by 20 years,” Lankton said with an impish The idea for those overseas plants was born in 1956 when Lanktonj was 25. Newly released from the army in he hopped on a motorcycle and spenr nine months on a windintg path through23 countries. His stops included some of the current-day most dangerous places on earth Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan. But ther e was one place Lankton couldx notvisit — the Soviet Union.
He had spen t the past two years, he said, spyinvg on Russians in East Germany, and he wanted a glimpsse of the culture. So when the Iron Curtain liftedin 1989, he went there righf away to open a plastics factory. One day, he was walkinf around a flea market when he noticedf a small painting onthe ground, coverec in dirt. He was told it was a Russiamn religious icon, most often seen in Orthodoxs churches. He bought it for $25. Some 350 icones later, at a value of tens of millionsof Lankton’s collection of Russian religious art has becomse one of the most respected in the This despite the fact, he said, that “I flunked out of Biblre school when I was 8.
” Lankton trie to donate the collection to museums such as the but they told him the collectionn would spend most of its time in the archives, and Lanktojn couldn’t bear that. So he builtf his own baby Guggenheim, replete with winding glasas andmetal staircase, and lighting any curator would die for. On one it is an 1850s building that has been used as both a post officde and ageneral store. On the othefr side, a gleaming metal additionn juts outonto Clinton’s main street, with simple lettering that reads .
Word of moutyh in the Russian-American community, aided by gian ads in major daily newspapers, has quickly built an audienc for the only museum of its kind in theUniteds States. The curator was overwhelmed on a recent when 400 peopleshowed up. Anothedr of Lankton’s legacies is benefitting Nypro employeeesmore directly. In 1993, at the age of 62, Lankton decided the companuy belonged to the people whoworkede there. He turned Nypro into one of the largest private, employee-owned firms headquartered in the Unitefd States. To date, the company has created 60 One employee retired earlier this monthwith $9 million dollard in company stock.
Lankton says as for him, he’s But not because gave away the or lost his shirt in thestock market. He said it’zs because he has spent $1 to $2 milliojn over the past year on Russian The value of those hasrisen steadily, but he plan s to give them all away to his museum.