An estimated 200 workers at the former National Envelope Company in Westfield were notified that their facility, located 70 Turnpike Industrial Road, will close. The new owners, Cenveo, bought the company in September. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
AMHERST – Last year, The National Envelope of Westfield was purchased out of bankruptcy protection by Cenveo, a Connecticut-based company that claims to produce one quarter of the envelopes used in the United States. Now, the Westfield plant, which employs about 200 people, will close in June.
State Treasurer and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Steve Grossman, comes from a family that has owned and operated the Massachusetts Envelope Company, now the Grossman Marketing Company, since 1910.
“When I was in business, Old Colony Envelope Company was a gem of a manufacturing facility,” Grossman said of the company that became National Envelope in 1994. “If a company says we’re going to shut down, and it’s going to cost as many as 200 jobs, in a city like Westfield that has been home to one of the most distinguished envelope manufacturing companies in the country for years, the goal is to use whatever tools we have in state government to retain those jobs.”
“That’s where state government hopefully can step in and work with the owners of the company to find a way to facilitate a move to a new facility, to facilitate some moving expenses,” he added. “That’s where Mass Development potentially can be a powerful vehicle.”
Grossman, along with State Attorney General Martha Coakley, is considered a front-runner to win the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination and face Republican Charlie Baker in this fall’s race to succeed outgoing Governor Deval L. Patrick.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve come from the business world, but the three key words I want government to be are fast, flexible, and entrepreneurial,” he said. “When a company says we’re shutting down, but we might be persuaded to stay if you can help us out… we won’t always succeed. I can’t promise 100 percent success, but I certainly would promise 100 percent effort, and the use of every tool and technique we have to keep those jobs, to keep those men and women working, to keep those people who have been part of multi-generations of manufacturing.”
Grossman, a Newton native, said that he had reached out to Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik following the announcement of National Envelope’s closing.
“I said ‘Dan, I don’t necessarily have the authority, but how can we think through creatively what you could do, what vehicles are available?'” Grossman said. “I think the manufacturing company would like to stay in Westfield. I just think right now they find it not affordable because of real estate issues. So lets figure out a way to fix that. There is always a solution.”
“We have a line of communication open with both Cenveo and the Governor’s office and I am hopeful that this communication may lead to a positive outcome for Cenveo, their employees and the city,” said Knapik. “Ben Grossman has been very helpful in facilitating this dialogue. I appreciate the Treasurer reaching out to me and being a catalyst for this recent dialogue.”
Grossman also addressed manufacturing as a key point of emphasis for job creation in the Commonwealth.
“I believe advanced and precision manufacturing is a huge part of our future, and no place understands that better than western Massachusetts,” he said. “If we’re going to create 50,000 new advanced and precision manufacturing jobs, it’s going to be because a German manufacturer of windows (Menck) comes to Chicopee and says ‘I’m going to work with Mass Development to create 100 to 150 jobs.’ When’s the last time 100 manufacturing jobs were created in Chicopee?”
“That’s a big deal, and if Chicopee can attract 100 jobs from a German manufacturer of windows, that can happen again and again and again if our voc-tech schools are in business to generate and educate the next generation of manufacturing students,” Grossman continued. “You don’t have to go to a four-year school, to UMass-Amherst, to make yourself between $60-80,000 in precision and advanced manufacturing. We can create and make sure Massachusetts is a place where manufacturing jobs proliferate. That is going to improve quality of life in a lot of towns that have been left out and left behind.”
Grossman toured the UMass-Amherst campus yesterday afternoon and conducted a forum on topics including student debt, internships and job and housing opportunities for graduates.
