Nypro chairman

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Nypro is Clinton’s biggest employer by far, with 900 workers. But when Gordonj Lankton arrived there as CEOand co-owneer in 1962, there were only 20 employees. Everyonw pitched in and Lankton often found himself on thefactoryh floor, working alongside his employees. He said early on, he though t to himself, “I like these people. They should sharw in the wealth ofthe company.” At a time when the excessezs of officials at companies like AIG test the public’ss faith, Lankton stands as a star reminder that good corporate citizens — those who value their employees and their communities abov their own pursuit of wealth or fame — do But before he could become a benefactor, Lankton had to builfd his company’s wealth.
When the companyh was founded in 1955, it made useful plastic items, like combs. Today, the company makes more complexcombinatiohn devices, such as a computerized insulin pen for diabetics it producesz in collaboration with one of its partners, . Nyprio has three different divisions — consume electronics, packaging and health care. The health care division, headquarteredf in Clinton, molds and assembles about 3 million asthmaa inhalerseach year. It also producez 33 million insulin injection devices and about 80 milliom check valves to be used to control blooxd flow inIV sets. Lankton’z straight posture and deft movemente belie his77 years.
The only hint that age has foundf him isthe tiny, clearf tube snaking out his ear, indicating a hearing aid. Therw is a big box on his desk that is full of cell phones covers and other discarded plastic remnantxs ofcommon products. Lankton is particularly proud of oneitem — a cleaf plastic mold with 12 divets in it. It is the symbolo of one of Nypro’s earlty successes, a long term deal with to produc e the molds for its Vistaconcontact lenses. “That deal kept the factory goin g for three shiftsa day, all year, for 15 Lankton said. But the company also facee someserious challenges.
In Lankton said, “We were bankrupt, only the CFO didn’ t tell me we were bankrupt.” While that may be a slight exaggeration, it is true there were some weekes when the company struggled to make Nyprowas overextended. The company had borrowed heavilt to buildplants overseas, starting in Taiwan in 1973. Interest ratesx went through the roof, landing at 20 In addition, a compant that prided itself on providing customized service now had a clien t base that had ballooned to400 customers. Lanktob came up with a plan calledthe $1 millionn club: identify potential customers who would buy $1 millionj dollars of goods per year. Nypro would focus only on industry thebig fish.
The firm shrunk its customer list to 40 and returnecdto profitability. And that crazy idea to build plants in placese like India andChina “We beat our competitors there by 20 Lankton said with an impisyh grin. The idea for those overseas plants was born in 1956 when Lanktowas 25. Newly released from the army in Germany, he hoppex on a motorcycle and spent nine months on a windingg path through23 countries. His stops included some of the current-da most dangerous places on earth — Syria, Iran, and Pakistan.
But there was one place Lanktonm could notvisit — the Soviet He had spent the past two years, he spying on Russians in East and he wanted a glimpse of the So when the Iron Curtain lifted in he went there right away to open a plasticds factory. One day, he was walking around a flea markert when he noticed a small painting on the coveredin dirt. He was told it was a Russian religioua icon, most often seen in Orthodox He bought itfor $25. Some 350 iconsw later, at a value of tens of millionsof Lankton’s collection of Russian religiouss art has become one of the most respecteed in the world. This despite the fact, he that “I flunked out of Bibl school when Iwas 8.
” Lankton tried to donate the collection to museums such as the but they told him the collection wouldr spend most of its time in the archives, and Lanktom couldn’t bear that. So he built his own baby replete with winding glass andmetal staircase, and lighting any curatofr would die for. On one side, it is an 1850sa building that has been used as both a post officde and a general On theother side, a gleaming metal addition juts out onto Clinton’x main street, with simple lettering that reade . Word of mouth in the Russian-American community, aided by giant ads in majore daily newspapers, has quickly built an audience for the only museumk of its kind in theUnitedx States.
The curator was overwhelmed on arecenyt Saturday, when 400 people showed up. Another of Lankton’d legacies is benefitting Nypro employees more In 1993, at the age of 62, Lanktonj decided the company belonged to the peoplwe who worked there. He turned Nypro into one of thelargest private, employee-ownesd firms headquartered in the Unites States. To date, the company has createdf 60 millionaires. One employee retirec earlier this monthwith $9 million dollard in company stock. Lankton says as for him, he’ds broke. But not because gave away the or lost his shirt in thestocok market.
He said it’s because he has spent $1 to $2 milliom over the past year on Russian The value of thos e hasrisen steadily, but he plansx to give them all away to his museum.