A historic Greater Toledo company will not see 2024 in northwest Ohio.
Newell Brands Corp. ended Calphalon’s connection to this community with a callous announcement required by law of their intention to close the Perrysburg plant in the Ampoint Industrial Park (“Calphalon to close plant permanently,” Tuesday).
The maker of high-end cookware was created in 1963 as the Commercial Aluminum Cookware Co. It prospered with a line of restaurant-quality pots and pans for home chefs.
In 1998, the founding Kasperzak family sold the firm to Newell in a deal the acquiring company claimed would not change operations.
Soon Calphalon was “Newellized,” a process of eliminating costs and increasing profit margins. Calphalon executive staff positions were eliminated in Perrysburg, performed instead by Newell headquarters in Atlanta. Much of the product line was manufactured in China but sold with a “Toledo, Ohio USA” stamp. The best of their products were made in Perrysburg Township.
As of Dec. 31 Calphalon will sever every tie to Toledo and 130 remaining manufacturing employees will lose their jobs. The skilled workers should not have trouble finding employment as Perrysburg Township is filled with factories looking for labor. But a connection to cookware that made Toledo synonymous for quality will be lost.
Inside the Newell empire, Calphalon is just one of 41 brands in seven product categories. The corporate parent is in sharp decline with a loss of market value over 45 percent in the last year. Plummeting stock prices always seem to filter down to workers and the communities they support.
A similar dynamic happened with Rubbermaid. When Newell bought the Wooster, Ohio, plastics giant in 1998 it was a perennial member of Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Companies list. Moreover, the maker of home goods and Little Tykes toys was an engine of innovation earning most of its profits from new, internally developed products.
Today there is no trace of Rubbermaid remaining in Wooster. The $5.8 billion purchase price looks foolish given Newell’s $4.3 billion market value 25 years later. Like they did with Calphalon, Newell cut more quality than costs and flees the founding home for locations with less respect for the brand’s historic quality.
When Newell promised to preserve the Perrysburg manufacturing plant, the company was riding high on profits of success. As soon as the corporate parent ran into money trouble, the promise has been thrown aside. Ohio’s experience with Newell Brands is one associated with decline and relocation of companies that grew and prospered here before a change of ownership.
It is easier to cut costs and manage the excellence out of a company from locations that have never experienced the quality. This is why a Newell purchase of an Ohio company is not happy news.
A Toledo-area entrepreneur, the late Ronald Kasperzak created a brand that became known for its ability to stand up to heavy use, giving home kitchens restaurant-quality cookware. Northwest Ohioans took pride in owning high-end cookware made by their neighbors, and all of Toledo manufacturing experienced the halo effect of high-perceived quality.
Northwest Ohio had a good run with Calphalon, and this region demonstrated through the reputation of these products its ability to conceive of and produce the best products consumers could choose.
The loss of this homegrown entity hurts the community, and 130 people are out of work and in search of a new job. The community can take pride in having hosted this enterprise for decades.
First Published August 31, 2023, 4:00 a.m.
