Ferriot Inc.
Contact: Roger Peck
1000 Arlington Circle
PO Box 7670
Akron, Ohio 44306
US-Ohio
Phone: 330-786-3067
Fax: 330-786-3001
Founded over 140 years ago...
Frederick Herrington was by trade a die sinker and engraver. He founded the Art Die Sinking Machine Co. in Chicago in 1860 for the purpose of applying the trade and in the process charted a career path for now seven generations of his family.
Herrington was born in England where he became an engraver. His work included crafting the stamps for sealing the queen's letters. He was brought to the US by Tiffany of New York and settled in Chicago where he and his talents were discovered by Dr. Benjamin Goodrich. It was Goodrich who brought Herrington to Akron to work in the infant rubber industry. In those days tires were small in diameter and made of hard rubber with the outside of the tires ornately engraved with flowers and leaves. It was in designing the molds for those engravings that Herrington literally left his mark on the tire industry.
Herrington re-established the Art Die and Sinking Machine Co. on Bartges Street in Akron along with his son, Ernest, and his son-in-law Victor Ferriot. Following the death of these three men, two of Victor's sons, Gene and Glenn, became apprentices at the Mechanical Mold & Machine Co. in Akron to carry on what was well on the way to becoming a family tradition. It was in 1924 that Gene left that job to start his own business in the garage of his home on Storer Ave. He was soon joined by his brother Glenn, for a short time by his brother Albert, and eventually by his brother Joseph. By 1932 Ferriot Brothers Inc. had become firmly established as a force in the mold making industry.
Because their grandfather Herrington had considered himself primarily an engraver/artist, the company dedicated itself to working on a variety of rubber products that required artwork- including old-fashioned ornate hot water bottles, heads for Shirley Temple dolls, and for dolls made in the images of Walt Disney characters. Then came World War II and with it a shift to products necessary for the war effort. Ferriot began machining tank treads for the Cadillac Tank Plant. They became one of the largest producers of small caliber bullet dies, and the largest producer of civilian and military gas mask molds. After the war the company once again shifted with the needs of the times. Ferriot went back to producing molds for the rubber industry and continued military production of aircraft parts for North American Aircraft and mine shooters, pieces of equipment made of beryllium copper which were dragged by ships to catch mine cables and cut them underwater.
By this time competition was stiffening in the rubber molds industry and the Ferriot brothers evaluated their position and decided to move into plastics. This decision led the company into profitable long-term relationships with the world's largest toy manufacturers.
Some customers for whom Ferriot Brothers produced molds encouraged the company to become involved not only in mold making, but in producing the finished products themselves. The result was the incorporation in 1947 of Fenco Manufacturing, wholly owned by family members and established to produce injection molded plastic products. In 1967 the Finishing Division (a division of Fenco) was established to decorate, paint, assemble, package, and ship finished products to customers or distributors thus positioning Ferriot as a company able to offer complete production capabilities and services from concept to completion.
In the late 1970s elaborately carved furniture and fronts for television sets were popular. Because of the lack of good hardwoods and the high cost of hand carving, Ferriot found a major business niche for itself by applying its unique casting process to make molds capable of producing products which effectively simulated the wood versions. Ferriot went on to produce and finish these items for the furniture industry.
When the demand for that style of product tapered off, Ferriot was again poised and ready to move into engineering plastics which were developed to withstand various engineering demands. These resins led Ferriot Inc. into products used heavily in markets such as business machines and computer cabinetry, hardware, housewares, appliances, cameras, medical monitoring equipment, and in the manufacture of medical models of the heart, kidneys, and other vital organs which were supplied to doctors and universities for demonstration purposes.
The family influence is still strong at Ferriot Inc. as Gordon Keeler, grandson of Gene Ferriot and current president & CEO, leads them into the future. Many other Ferriot family members continue to be very much a part of the daily operations of this dynamic and growing company.
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ISO Certified
9001:2000
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